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The Newsletter dedicated to Holistic Body~Mind Health & Optimal Performance

Around The Institute CHEK FACULTY MEMBER JON BOWSKILL TO RUN ‘TOUGHEST FOOT RACE ON EARTH’ FOR CHARITY

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March 15, 2013

Featured Exercise

London, UK - On April 5th, 2013 CHEK Faculty member Jon Bowskill will join 800 other competitors from around the world for the 28th Marathon Des Sables as part of a fundraiser for his selected charity, Claire House Children’s Hospice. Described by the Discovery Channel as “the toughest foot race on earth,” the course covers 155 miles of the Sahara desert over 6 days, the equivalent of a marathon a day, with a double marathon of 52 miles as the middle stage. Temperatures will be expected to reach 50 degrees Celsius and competitors carry all their own supplies totaling 10kg in equipment and food, with water provided at aid stations along the way and a camp provided each evening. “I’ll be racing to raise much needed funds for a cause very close to my heart, Claire House Children’s Hospice on the Wirral,” said Jon. “One of the driving forces behind the charity has been the father of a childhood friend of mine who sadly passed away aged 17 from a brain tumour. His tireless work to build the charity and keep it growing from its very start has been instrumental in the success that the charity has achieved. That said, it is totally run on donations and so the fund raising is critical to Claire House continuing to provide the care and services at their centre. Their website is www.claire-house.org.uk.” Anyone interested in providing sponsorship support for Jon’s charity cause can be made directly and securely at Just Giving’s website: http://www.justgiving.com/Jon-Bowskill1

Hip Rotations Hip rotations are an easy, but effective, way to warm up the pelvis area through many different directions How To Perform The Exercise • Standing with your feet shoulder-width apart, place your hands on your hips, just above your pockets. • Begin to rotate your hips in circles, making sure you complete as smooth a circle as possible. • Begin with small circles and progressively make the circles larger over the span of 12-15 hip rotations. • Reverse the direction of movement and do another 12-15 rotations.

EXERCISE COACH PETER HALING ANNOUNCES BIRTH OF 2ND DAUGHTER Tongeren, Belgium - Peter Haling, an Exercise Coach out of Belgium, recently announced the birth of his second daughter, Alexis. She entered the world on January 24th, at 51cm and weighing 3.4kg.

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Taken from the Golf Fitness Card Set

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CHEK the pulse • March 15, 2013 | 1

Upcoming CHEK Advanced Training Programs *Note: All dates subject to change. Please visit website for up-to-date worldwide schedule

2013 Schedule (USA & Canada) CHEK Holistic Lifestyle Coach Level 1 • • • • •

San Diego, CA - March 22-24 NYC, NY - April 29-May 1 Chicago, IL - June 21-23 San Francisco - Oct 4-6 Toronto, ON - Nov 1-3

CHEK Holistic Lifestyle Coach Level 2 • Toronto, ON – June 5-9 • San Diego, CA - Dec 4-8

CHEK Holistic Lifestyle Coach Level 3 • USA - September 13-18

CHEK Exercise Coach • • • • • • •

San Diego, CA - March 13-17 Vancouver - April 17-21 San Francisco, CA - June 7-11 New York, NY - July 17-21 Dallas, TX or Chicago - August 14-18 Calgary, BC - September 18-22 Fort Lauderdale, FL - October 2-6

2013 Schedule CHEK Holistic Lifestyle Coach Level 1 • Lancashire, UK - March 15-17 • Eleiko, Sweden - April 22-24 Central London, UK - Aug 9-11 • Lancashire, UK - Nov 8-10

CHEK Holistic Lifestyle Coach Level 2 • Lancashire, UK – April 29-May 3 • Sweden – Nov 20-24

• Toronto, ON - October 25-29 • San Diego, CA - Oct 30-Nov 3

C.H.E.K Practitioner Level 1 • • • • •

Toronto, ON - March 20-24 Fort Lauderdale, FL - May 8-12 San Francisco, CA - August 21-25 New York, NY - September 25-29 San Diego, CA - Nov 6-10

Golf Performance Specialist

International Affiliates

• Toronto, ON - April 24-28 • East Coast - Oct 23-27 • San Diego, CA - November 18-22 • San Diego, CA - October 18-26

• Fort Lauderdale, FL - July 12-14 • San Diego, CA -September 6-8 • Toronto, ON - November 22-24

(EuropE & Australia) C.H.E.K Practitioner Level 1

• Warriewood, NSW - March 23-27 • Dorking, UK - Aug 21-25

C.H.E.K Practitioner Level 2 • Dorking, UK - Nov 13-17

C.H.E.K Practitioner Level 3 • Lancashire, UK - May 15-23

International Fitness Showcase

Live Workshops at Place of CHI

Weight Lifting: How to Optimize Performance and Prevent Injury!

How to register for a course in the USA and Canada

C.H.E.K Practitioner Level 3

C.H.E.K Practitioner Level 2

Golf Performance Specialist

• March 22-24, Team CHEK Blackpool, UK

North America C.H.E.K Institute www.chekinstitute.com [email protected] Phone: +1-760-477-2620

Contact one of our Admissions Advisors. They will be able to explain our educational process in detail. The Admissions Office is open Monday-Friday (8am-5pm PST). Phone: +1-760-477-2620 Email: [email protected]

CHEK Exercise Coach

• Auckland, NZ -March 20-24 • Central London, UK - June 5-9 • Lancashire, UK - Aug 14-18

Contacts

• Central London, UK - Aug 30-Sept 1

• Scientific Back Training April 4 - 5 • Scientific Core Conditioning June 21 - 22

Please contact your respective International Affiliate below.

United Kingdom CHEK Europe Ltd. www.chekeurope.com [email protected] Phone: +44 01704 821321 Australia & New Zealand Place of Chi www.placeofchi.com [email protected] Phone: +61 02 9986 0840 Sweden, Norway, Finland Eleiko Sport AB Ph: (+46) 035 17 70 70 www.eleikosport.se [email protected] Dates and locations are subject to change. Please check with the C.H.E.K Institute or International Affiliate organizing the course before making any travel arrangements.

• April 11, Dan Hellman Loughborough University, UK

Fitpro Convention

• April 12-13, Team CHEK, Loughborough University, UK



The All New ptEnhance: An Interview With Managing Director Gary Crozier We sat down with Gary Crozier, CP3, HLC2, GPS and Managing Director of ptEnhance to find out more about the new release, upcoming plans and generally shoot the breeze about life around ptEnhance.

Webinars & Coaching Calls

C.H.E.K Institute (CI): Hi Gary, first of all congratulations on the release of your new version of ptEnhance! I’ve personally seen the websites of some C.H.E.K Practitioners and they look great! What amazed me was how different they looked to each other too. Gary: Yes, we’ve a spent a lot of time putting as much flexibility into the system as possible while also giving tools to help our users do things quickly. The marketing website feature is a good example. The site comes with lots of sample content and suggestions to help trainers or CHEK professionals get a website up really quickly. There are so many different options with the various themes, color schemes and layouts that give loads of flexibility to customize the site. CI: From talking to you previously, it sounds like that principle of helping practitioners do things faster but also allowing flexibility has been a big part of the design of the new version across the board. Can you explain that a little? Gary: Yes, definitely. We have put a lot of work into that. We realize that not only is every client that practitioners work with an individual that needs individual attention, but trainers and practitioners themselves have individual preferences and ways of working. ptEnhance, and especially the new version gives trainers tools like pre-built questionnaires and assessment forms and template programs that can make the whole process of assessing and prescribing exercise programs much faster, more organized and professional. But, at the same time, we’ve built it to allow loads of flexibility in the features so they can be customized. As an example, we have added extra flexibility to our exercise program templates so that users can mix and match sections from different templates and add or remove individual exercises as needed. We have also introduced some features that allow trainers to not only set up visual periodization plans for programs, but to do so using common periodization patterns that they can re-use to fast track things. Groups of exercises can also be saved to be re-used as the starting place for building customized programs quickly. We are not into the cookie cutter approaches that we sometimes see elsewhere. We’re always thinking with flexibility and the ability to customize in mind. CI: And your users can create their own exercises for their exercise libraries and even questionnaires and assessment forms now I hear?


Upcoming! MONTHLY WEBINARS: Balance Training for Every Client March 27, 2013 /12pm w/ Mark Stone

CHEK Webinars are free for C.H.E.K Institute-trained professionals and are open to everyone else for just $24.95 each or an annual subscription of $19.95 per month. To register, please visit: www.chekinstitute. com/webinar. C.H.E.K Institute Trained Professionals will received email instructions on how to register for each webinar.

CHEK ITP COACHING CALLS For Ex. Coaches, C.H.E.K Pracs & Golf Perf.

March 21th

w/ Paul Chek For Holistic Lifestyle Coaches

April 18th w/ TBA

These special Q&A Coaching calls with CHEK Faculty are only for C.H.E.K Institute-Trained Professionals with current status. CHEK ITPs will receive email instructions on how to register for each coaching call. If you have a particular question to be addressed by a faculty member, please send them to [email protected].


Holistic Living

Gary: Correct. Creating their own exercises and questionnaires is not critical as there are libraries of exercises and questionnaires for them to use, but the features are there for those that want to use them. Some of our customers use them a lot; while some just a little; and others probably not at all. Again, the system is customizable for everyone. CI: For practitioners and trainers that maybe are not too familiar with computers and technology; do you find your customers have problems learning to use ptEnhance?

6 Reasons Why You Should Avoid Irradiated Foods 1. Research dating to the 1950s has revealed a wide range of problems in animals that ate irradiated food, including premature death, a rare form of cancer, reproductive dysfunction, chromosomal abnormalities, liver damage, low weight gain and vitamin deficiencies. The long-term effect of irradiated foods on humans is unknown. 2. Irradiation encourages filthy conditions in slaughterhouses and food processing plants. Irradiation can kill most bacteria in food, but it does nothing to remove the feces, urine, pus and vomit that often contaminate beef, pork, chicken and other meat. 3. Irradiation destroys vitamins, essential fatty acids and other nutrients in food. As an example, the process destroys 80% of vitamin A in eggs. 4. Irradiation can destroy the valuable digestion-aiding enzymes that raw fruits and vegetables contain. 5. Irradiation can change the flavor, odor and texture of food. Pork can turn red; beef can smell like a wet dog; and fruit and vegetables can become mushy. In a study conducted by Consumer Reports, tasters reported that samples of cooked irradiated beef and chicken had a distinctive “off” flavor and odor similar to that of singed hair. 6. When irradiated food is exposed to the equivalent of 30 million chest X-rays, scores of new chemicals called “radiolytic products” are created that do not naturally occur in food, including known carcinogens benzene and toluene. Taken from You Are What You Eat

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Gary: Well, good question. It is something we have always been acutely aware of. I mean, let’s face it, as a profession health and fitness professionals are probably not as tech savvy as some other industries. Computers or iPads aren’t the first tools of the trade we reach for. So we are very focused on making ptEnhance as easy as possible for our customers. We have to accept there is always going to be learning curve with any software and the more powerful the features the longer that can be. But I think we do a great job of addressing that. We give a detailed phone demonstration to new users to help them get up to speed quickly and in this new version we have placed a big importance on our help content within the system. We have created “Help” videos that are short 5 minute or so clips that take you through exactly how to perform the main tasks. People seem to find them really valuable. CI: Do you think being a C.H.E.K Institute-Trained Professional yourself and having a long background in the fitness industry helps you understand the needs of your users in that regard? Gary: For sure! I am not a ‘natural’ when it comes to computers. I was a trainer and practitioner myself for a long time. Sure I’ve learned some things along the way, but there definitely was a time when I was only used to pushing around weights - not a mouse. I learned to do a bit of both. It’s not just me of course; our main guy that works with the developers to design the system, Mark Latham has been a C.H.E.K Practitioner since the early days too. CI: That’s right. As I remember it, both of you got into the C.H.E.K Institute’s program back in the mid to late nineties, didn’t you? Gary: Yes, we were amongst the first 5 or 6 practitioners in Australia at the time actually. Which probably either reflects the fact we have always been avid learners and ‘connoisseurs of knowledge’ and I suppose early adopters, or maybe just that we are getting old. (laughs) CI: Maybe a little of both. (laughing) Gary: Yeah, thanks for that. Mark got into CHEK a year or so before me, he was flying over to the US and observing and working with Paul in his old clinic in La Jolla, California in the mid 90’s before the Internship program started. I was actually a patient of Paul’s and worked with Paul personally for many years. Having had 9 major surgeries including a face reconstruction, spinal fusion and bunch of other stuff, Paul said



I looked like I got hit by a train. Paul and the CHEK approach pretty much saved my life, which is where part of my passion and drive comes from to help support practitioners, their clients and their businesses.

CHEK Spotlight

Mark and I have over 30 years of experience as C.H.E.K Practitioners between us…gee that does make us sound old! It actually was way back in the early days, when Mark Latham and I had a training studio together, we first started kicking around ideas, which have eventually came to fruition with ptEnhance. Mark Thuaux, our Sales Manager has had a long background in the fitness industry too. He’s forgotten more about the business side of the fitness industry than most people will ever know, which comes from his many years of managing large health clubs and sales and marketing teams. He does a great job helping our customers not only to learn the system but also how to structure it to fit into their business model. He’s always willing to help people with that.

Scottsdale, AZ

CI: Awesome. Gary, what big plans do you have for ptEnhance?

Benjamin Brown www.scottsdalefitnessandhealth.com

Gary: Well, where ptEnhance is right now is just the beginning. We aim to be the system that the majority of the industry uses no matter what tribe or philosophy or approach they use. We already feel that we offer the best mix of features that you would otherwise need to combine a number of sites or systems to access, if you could get them at all. CI: I hear you do have some more exciting things coming as well in terms of features for the system. Gary: Yes, the new version we have released was a major from the ground up rebuild. We rebuilt the system in a whole new technology that not only has brought some immediate improvements in performance and functionality, but it also enables us to add in some new features coming this year such as an appointment scheduling system, E-Commerce and a major client education portal that trainers and practitioners can use to provide educational videos, audios, and documents to their clients. CI: Great. Thanks for your time Gary. I have really enjoyed our chat. Hopefully we can get you back in the future. Can you let our readers know how to best get in contact with you if they would like to learn more about ptenhance? Gary: For sure. Our website is www.ptenhance.com people can sign up for a demo and 2 week free trial online there. Come have a chat with Mark Thuaux and have a play with the system and see how it works for you, we make it pretty easy. We’re not into high-pressure sales approaches. Mark Thuaux and Gary Crozier at the their office in the C.H.E.K Institute and that’s not Mark Latham in the middle; he works in Australia. So we had to grab a stand in.

CHEK Qualifications

CHEK Practitioner - Level 2 CHEK Holistic Lifestyle Coach - Level 2 Golf Performance Specialist

Biography Ben Brown is the owner of Body Systems, a fitness and nutrition consultancy that offers a holistic approach to solving health problems and improving sports performance. Ben specializes in corrective exercise, strength and conditioning, stretch therapy, nutrition counseling, nutritional supplementation and holistic lifestyle coaching. His customized fitness and nutrition programs have helped clients achieve their goals through weight loss, improved performance, injury prevention and improved vitality. For nearly a decade, Ben has trained and counseled individuals of all physical abilities, from youth through professional athletes. Prior to founding Body Systems, he served as a strength and conditioning coach for Chandler Gilbert Community College and for the Arizona Cardinals. In addition, Ben has maintained an active practice designing corrective, performance enhancement and rehabilitative exercise programs for clients with chronic musculoskeletal problems, weekend warriors and professional athletes. He is also a member of the adjunct faculty for Chandler Gilbert Community College.

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Featured Product Scientific Balance Training from the Live with Paul Chek audio series Presented by Paul Chek Balance training is one of the latest crazes to hit gyms, but are people training correctly? In this presentation, Paul Chek shows you that there is much more to balance training than meets the eye and much like a mal-prescribed drug, can have dire consequences to the person taking it. An ill-prescribed balance training program can do far more harm than good. You will learn about segmental and gross stability, mobility and inner unit stiffness. Understand how development of the inner and outer units affects balance, and how to develop a balance training program. Learn why balance training is not as easy as simply putting someone on a balance board or foam roller, and why you need to learn the science behind it to make it work for you. Note: This is a recording of a live presentation and not a studio recording, so questions from some members of the audience are not clearly audible. Please note Paul’s response. 2 Audio CDs plus insert booklet – approx. 90 mins March Special: $24.95 (regularly $29.95)

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Building a Healthy Work-Life Balance By Paul Chek

Brought to you by PPSsuccess.com

I can’t tell you how many times I have had clients who were so completely absorbed in their work that they had lost sight of the rest of their life. As you can imagine, the results are not good for personal, professional or spiritual health. The challenge for anyone like this comes in striking the right balance of time devoted to work and time devoted to the rest of your life. In this article, I want to take on that challenge by exploring why people tend to go awry in their worklife relationship and how anyone can incorporate their career into their life in a way that compliments rather than overshadows the other components of their life’s dreams. There are a number of reasons why people find themselves devoting all of their energies to their career while neglecting the rest of their life. For many people, the reason is that they have been told that succeeding in their line of work requires sacrificing everything else. It’s not uncommon to hear speakers tell their audience at business seminars that they should be devoting 80 hours minimum per week to their work if they want to succeed. This mindset that the likelihood of success can be measured by the amount of hours you put in is so common today. And just plain false. Of course starting your own business requires a great deal of effort as does moving up in your career of choice. But if you want to be successful the first question shouldn’t be to ask about how many hours you are devoting to your work. Rather, the place to begin is by asking how efficiently are you using your work hours? Out of those 80 works hours, how many are quality hours where the individual’s brain is functioning at peak capacity, their energy level is high and they are emotionally engaged in their tasks? For most people that follow the 80-hour workweek schedule, the answer is very few. When my clients find themselves in this position, I have to show them that diverting some of their energy back to other parts of their lives often makes them better able to take advantage of their work hours. So finding a more even balance between work and other life components actually makes them better at their job. A second reason that people often channel too much of their energy into work is because they feel that they need to do so to meet their financial obligations to their family. The answer here again has to do with efficiency, but not in quite the same way as the previous case. Often times it’s important to look at the effects of the parent’s absence on the family. Bringing home the bacon is important, but spending time with your family isn’t a luxury – it contributes to the growth and wellbeing of each member of that family. In the long term, you’ll find that it’s much better all-around to find ways to cut costs that just don’t add to your family’s life. Do you really need cable TV? Heck do you need a TV at all? Go through your budget and your expenses and cut where you can. This will reduce your financial burden and allow you to spend more time with the family. An evening spent reading to the kids or playing with them in the park is healthier for them, de-stressing for you, and doesn’t suck the cash out of your wallet. Finally, in some cases, I’ve found that people channel too much of their energy into their work because they’ve discovered their dream job. These people become



so excited, so enthusiastic about doing what they love that they forget that there is more to their life than their work. This case is a bit like an addiction. Their job provides a rush – they feel alive when they are at work. Most people would kill to have a job like that, so where’s the problem? There are a few worries here. The first is burnout. If you’re pouring your life’s energy into your work without doing anything to replace that energy, there simply won’t be much left of you in a few years. There are all sorts of physical consequences that you can experience here - energy lows, postural troubles, decreased sex drive, accelerated aging, and the list goes on. But the burnout can be psychological as well. The mind needs a break now and again too, and without giving it a proper rest, the job that you once loved can turn into a nightmare. Diverting some time and energy away from work can mean that your love affair with your career is a long lasting relationship, rather than a short fling. Second, if you have a family and you’re in this position, you’re falling prey to the same mindset as the previous case I discussed – you’re forgetting that your contributions to the family need to extend beyond simply the financial, and that those same extra-financial contributions affect your health and wellbeing as well as the other members of the family. So spend some time with your family. As in the other case, you’ll find that everyone in your family is happier and healthier and in turn, you’ll approach your work more efficiently. If you found that one of the scenarios I described above sounds like you, it’s time to think about how you can find a better balance between your work and the rest of your life. The real problem in all of these cases is that none of these people are living by their complete values set. All aspects of your life need to flow from your core values and those values don’t just inform your career choices. Your values should also guide you in choices about how you take care of yourself – how you meet your physical, emotional, mental and spiritual needs. They guide you in your relationships with your family, friends and co-workers, and they offer a guideline about how to treat the environment and the world at large. To the extent that you neglect any of these, you are going to suffer, your career will suffer and those who you are in contact with as well. Finding the right balance between work and the other aspects of your life is a matter of learning how to apportion your energy most efficiently by listening to your values.

The first step in doing that is to get clear on your values. One way to get clarify your values is to read my eBook The Last 4 Doctors You’ll Ever Need – How to Get Healthy Now! and pay particular attention to the chapter on Dr. Happiness. That section of the eBook will offer you a quick, but accurate guide to determining your core values. If you don’t have access to the eBook, you can start by listing your personal values – your most basic mental, emotional, physical, and spiritual needs – your professional values – the features you need your career to take on in order for you to be fulfilled – and your relationship values – those features that need to be in place in any relationship in order for it to be healthy and meaningful. Once you have a clear picture of your values, write them down and plan around them. Your values should always be part of your goal structure – on a daily, weekly, monthly and life-long scale. If your values don’t inform every goal, then they shouldn’t be part of your goal structure. This means all of your values as well. How does your goal to work 15 hours today fit with your relationship values if you have a family? Does it allow you to meet that value? If the answer is no, don’t make a 15 hour workday a goal! Setting your goals in the background of your values is a learning process. Unfortunately, most people don’t know what their core values are and really don’t live by them, so it may take time and real practice to evaluate and organize your goals in the way that I’ve described. One way to speed up this learning curve is to review your daily and weekly goals with an eye towards how those goals, once completed, matched up with your values. This will allow you to restructure your plans in the future to better satisfy those values. So set aside some time to think about your values and start planning your day around them. Pretty soon, I think you’ll find that you’re more successful on the job and you’re enjoying life more than ever!



Recent CHEK Graduates HLC3 Michelle Powell Ilse Van Oostenbrugge Tanya Carroll Leila Lutz Brad Rasmus Deepika Chopra Sarah Hopkins Natasha McInnes Vincent Romeo Paul Eliseo Nathan Verco Cathy Carr

*These are the names of recently-graduated CITPs who have successfully completed their Advanced Training Program and passed their examination. Due to the constraints of newsletter publishing deadlines, we cannot guarantee that everyone will be included in the most recent issue, but don’t worry; we’ll get you in the next one.

Download this Month’s Desktop Wallpaper Here’s a free downloadable gift for you this month. I’ve put together a desktop wallpaper especially for CHEK the Pulse readers. Feel free to share with your friends and coworkers.

Cl ick to Do wn loa d 1680 x 1050

Upcoming Birthdays!

Click here to let us Claudia Fernandez, Dallas, TX March 4th know! Got a birthday coming up?

Charlotte Porter, Rotorua, New Zealand, March 6th Trent Singleton, Sydney, Australia, March 6th

Exercise Coach, Toronto w/Yves Ethier

PUBLISHER C.H.E.K Institute, LLC. Phone: +1-760-477-2620 Fax: +1-760-477-2630 2105 Industrial Court, Vista, CA. 92081, USA www.chekinstitute.com

Disclaimer: The information contained in the CHEK The Pulse is given in good faith and has been derived from sources believed to be reliable and accurate. However, the C.H.E.K Institute L.L.C. nor any person involved in the preparation of this publication accept any form of liability for its contents. The information contained in this publication should not be substituted for the direct advice of a qualified health care professional.

EDITOR Tristan J. Loo Email: [email protected] Phone: 760-477-2620

Copyright © 2013 by the C.H.E.K Institute. All rights reserved. ISSN 1937-4038

Mark Stone presenting at EMPOWER!

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