Phil Kaplan's Fitness Insights for a Better You

What is ALIVE?*

This is a breakthrough intervention aimed at helping functional individuals, even those with limiting physical conditions, to gain power over their own physical betterment. In other words, if you're not at your best, this is a complete exercise, nutrition, and lifestyle program designed to make you "better."

Driven by the words Be Better, the words that title my newest pursuits both professionally and personally, the words with carry-over significance that underlie virtually all human motivation, the protocol treats conditions such as excess adiposity (excess body fat), obesity, type 2 diabetes, hypertension, metabolic syndrome, and inflammatory conditions as the combined result of genetic factors, lifestyle choices, nutritional habits, emotional interpretations, and environmental conditions. With this perspective, each "condition," referred to in the protocol as "dis-ease" can be viewed as a continuum and the discomfort or abnormality moves along this continuum in one of two ways.

Option 1 - you move away from health. Untreated inflammation, deterioration, fat accumulation, and degeneration move the individual and the condition(s) toward advanced dis-ease.

Option 2 - you get "better." If the condition is treated through appropriate intervention, reduction in symptoms, restoration of normal function, and a sense of heightened power and self-esteem move the individual back toward a state of health.

There are two distinctive types of interventions.

You might remember fondly the days of the family doctor, a physician who knew you, knew your family, knew your conditions, and who emanated a sense of caring. Today, medicine has become assembly line. The doctors all care about people, but the system limits opportunity for doctor - patient relationships. With the emergence of new symptom-reducing and condition-managing drugs, individuals who are not considered clinically ill are often diagnosed with a label (so insurance will cover the "meds") and sent to the pharmacy with a prescription. Because each individual has his or her own rrespective position along the dis-ease continuum, consecutive doctor visits often bring new prescriptions and condition "management" rather than cure.

Many of the conditions that have come to accepted as conditions of aging, including a slowing of metabolism, an increase of abdominal fat, and irregularities in blood pressure and blood sugar may be fully reversible through shifts in activity and nutrition and ALIVE is aimed at stimulating progressive improvement and reversal of dis-ease.

The ALIVE* protocol offers an alternative restoring a sense of control to the individual. It follows a specific strategy, integrating shifts in eating and a strategically structured exercise routine, to facilitate improvements in endocrine balance, energy production, pulmonary function, vascular efficiency, coordination, strength, and mitochondrial integrity. Combined, these elements, in many cases, begin the individual moving in a curative direction along the continuum.

*The Aggressive Lifestyle Intervention Variable Exercise Protocol (ALIVE) requires an extensive assessment considering biochemical and physical condition followed by a 28 day regimen the individual can perform independently with directed guidance from a qualified Personal Fitness Trainer.

An Invitation

I am personally taking on only four new clients per month. There is a $2400 investment to work with me personally. The one-month process includes an extensive intake where I get to understand the physical, medical, emotional, and lifestyle elements that brought you to your present condition. We'll look at a baseline of lab work as well as current fitness responses to establish a clear starting point and assure the program is aimed specifically at those areas you most seek to improve.

The intake includes an assessment using the POLAR Body Age system allowing us to review a correlation between your present level of fitness and standards and norms. The result is documented as the establishment of a "biological age." The biological age measurement serves as a tool for assessment. Theoretically, you may test at 5 or 10 years above your chronological age (i.e. a 40 year old may test at 45 or 50 biologically). With improvement of the factors mentioned previously, a re-test typically reveals a significant rejuvenation, a reduced biological age.

Alternatives to ALIVE

If you are not in a position to meet with me personally, or $2400 is not presently affordable (this will not be covered by insurance) there are other options for going through the protocol. I will be establishing ALIVE groups which will include group instruction and select one-on-one contact with an approved Personal Trainer. You can also elect to follow my 21 Day Journey to Excellence remote which, for a limited time, I'm making available for only $289 with an online submission and a 20-minute personal telephone consult. The 21 Day Journey, while it's nowhere near as extensive or personalized as ALIVE, is a complete and proven program and contains the foundational elements of the ALIVE protocol exercise regimen.

After the Program

The intention is to not only find physical improvement and significant movement along the continuum toward optimal health, but also to empower you with tools and strategies to keep improvement consistent and ongoing beyond the 28 days. Following the 28 day protocol, you will have a program you can follow ongoing and no further consult is required. I will keep a limited number of active clients, who I will visit periodically in their homes where we can arrange an independent situation allowing for guided self-sufficiency including limited or extensive exercise equipment considerations, changes in food selections and kitchen staples, and ongoing direction for dramatic improvement over time. This is only available for individuals who live in South Florida between Boca Raton and Wellington, between A1A and 441. (click to hear Phil describe ALIVE)

Other Alternatives

I have a number of programs that can be delivered in the form of recorded audio, video, and guide books or electronically through download. Contact me by email with a two-paragraph summary of your present concerns, interests, and conditions and I will respond with what I believe is the best course of action.

Soon to Come:

In Summer of 2010, new ALIVE groups will be held at Fitness 21 in South Florida. There will also be 12 fitness professionals around the country who will have mastery of the ALIVE protocol. If you do not live in South Florida and would like to go through the protocol personally with an experienced and competent Personal Fitness Trainers, email me and I'll let you know if I can connect you with someone in your area.

Note: This is not intended to replace medical care, nor is it intended for individuals working to resolve or heal diagnosed illness requiring surgery or advanced medical treatment. It is a protocol for otherwise healthy individuals who are troubled by emerging conditions that compromise fitness, performance, or well-being. In cases of diagnosed conditions, this protocol should prove complementary to medical care and all medical protocols, prescriptions, and recommended treatments will be considered and appropriately integrated.

The Seven Letters

ALIVE*

The Bridge Between Fitness and Cure

A New Exercise Protocol by Phil Kaplan