Relieve Low Back Pain | Reduce Low Back Pain | Canada's Leading Authority in Human Movement | Dev Chengkalath

It's all about the inches...

During a break at work today between treating clients, I had a chance to sit and chat for a few minutes with my buddy and colleague, Dr. Marco Tocco.

Now Dr. T as we call affectionately call him, is no ordinary chiropractor.

Behind those massive (yet gentle) mitts used for Active Release Techniques (ART)® and that polished pate, lies a mind full of ideas worth checking out.

His forearms are actually bigger than my thighs.

In fact, due to his imposing physical proportions and his uncanny resemblance to a certain Hollywood celebrity (Vin Diesel anyone?), he’s the go-to-guy when anyone asks the question: “why won’t it grow?”.

No, he won't prescribe you the little blue pill.

All joking aside, I was fortunate enough to chat with Dr. T about why some body parts seem resistant to muscular growth and development when compared to others.

From our discussion, we whittled it down to two areas that our clients seemed to have the most difficulty coaxing to grow: the calves and the forearms.

We then whittled it down further to a couple of likely reasons why.

And without any pomp or fanfare, here they are:

1. Don’t train them properly (frequency, intensity, type of exercise, timing of exercise)
2. Don’t eat enough.

The two most likely reasons why some of your body parts (e.g. calves) haven’t attained their full potential.

If you don’t believe me, have a look around when you’re out and about in your neighbourhood.

Check out the size of the calves on almost anyone who would be considered overweight or obese who still gets around on their own and has been doing so for some time.

What do you see?

For some “unknown” reason (think training principles), these individuals seem to have some of the most muscular, most defined calves around.

You would too if you were always in a caloric surplus and carrying the extra load around 24/7.

To your cranked up calves and formidable forearms.

Dev Chengkalath

As you all know, I’m a huge proponent for movement as a safe, effective and dangerous-side-effect-free “cure” for many of the health issues faced by a large percentage of the population. This includes relieving low back pain, treating diabetes, lowering cholesterol and conquering obesity and its related deadly disorders. 

In this post, I’m going to be switching gears a bit from discussing low back pain to discussing body fat.

Don’t get me wrong. The two are still intimately related and that’s why, if you’re carrying extra body fat, you need to get rid of it. 

Potentially Fatal Body Fat

 As I subscribe to dozens of physical therapy, health and fitness newsletters, I’m always looking to pass along information that will benefit you in relieving your low back pain or just getting you in the best shape possible (which is one of the best ways to avoid low back pain!). 

Here is one such newsletter I recently received that caught my attention:

[ Editor's Note:  Fitness author Jon Benson shared this letter with me and gave me permission to share it with you. ]

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I agree with Jon. You can keep waiting on the sidelines or you can suit up, take action and take charge of your health and fitness. 

Yours in movement.

Dev Chengkalath

When you don't move

Being a movement guy, I get a lot of email relating to, well, movement.

Just today, in fact, I was emailed a link to an article which discussed why exercise alone is not the solution to the obesity epidemic.

No surprise there, as we all know that nutrition plays a fairly large role.

However, in this article, the author was discussing how a few hours a week of exercise was still not enough movement.

I agree.

This is where NEAT comes into play.

NEAT is the acronym for Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis and represents ALL of your daily movement that’s not intentional exercise.

This includes puttering around your house (or your desk), walking to the mailbox, around the grocery store, to the dry cleaners or even your fidgeting.

Just move.

According to this article, in the past 150 years, we have dropped NEAT related calorie burn by about 2000 calories a day.

If you think that seems like a lot, it’s because it is!

We’ve stopped taking the stairs, we drive everywhere, we use remote controls and have automation everywhere. Technology is playing its part in making us fatter. 

Take a stand. And move. 

Dev Chengkalath

So how’s your diet?

Ok, first off, I hate the term diet, but I knew it would get your attention. 

So…what’s your answer?

Are you on a specific eating plan?

Do you have a nutritional system in place?

Or are you like most people who “wing” it? 

Most people “know” the basics of good nutrition. They “know” what food is good for them. They “know” what food they should be eating. They “know” what foods they should avoid.

So why are people getting bigger and fatter? Why is obesity becoming a bigger and bigger problem if everyone “knows” nutrition?

The answer, my friends, is quite simple.

It’s not the knowledge that’s lacking, it’s the application of that knowledge. It’s great to have all this information available at your fingertips.

If you have a question about nutrition, you can just type your search term in to google and in a few moments, you’ll have pages and pages of information at your disposal.  

But these searches won’t usually give you the answers to those fundament and burning questions deep within you.

Tell me, have you ever wondered which diet is the best one? Which one will lead to the greatest weight loss? Which one will slim you down or give you washboard abs?

Most importantly, which one you can stay on perpetually without starving yourself?

What if I told you I know of a system that can do all that and more?

And what if I told you it’s quite simple to implement?

Would you be interested?

Would you want to know more? 

Would you be willing to face your fear of success, or challenge your fear of failure?

The choice is yours, get your free copy of Nutrition Strategies For Success.

You’ve got nothing to lose.

Live Powerfully.
Dev Chengkalath