Library of Essays

Stress & the Stress Response. Stress is an encroachment on your body’s life force. Your body does an absolute splendid job of maintaining the various systems that make up your life force within very narrow margins. The collection of your biological variables—the body’s temperature, blood sugar, bone mass, blood pressure, pH, skin pigment, adipose levels, […]

By Al Ciampa December 4, 2017

Taking Control of Your Breath. It should not be surprising that normal breathing is a foundational element of health, wellness, and stress reduction—it is the only thing that we do constantly from birth to death. You can live for several weeks/months without food and several days without water, but only several minutes without a breath. […]

By Al Ciampa January 13, 2018

Nutrition. Nutrition is the simplest yet one of the more powerful lifestyle changes that you can make on your way to improved health, reduced stress, and greater physical performance. It is simple, but not at all easy. First, you have to reorient your view while contemplating nutritional intervention by peeling back technology, industry, and modern […]

By Al Ciampa February 22, 2018

Physical Training for Strength, Stress Management & Improved Health. Physical training (PT) is one of the simplest and easiest additions (or changes) that you can make in your life. Physical inactivity is rampant in the western world, and its effects lay dormant for years before you might experience the symptoms of one or more of […]

By Al Ciampa March 7, 2018

Breathing During Exercise. If you’ve purchased the idea that your unconscious brain can learn to chronically hyperventilate while at rest, then it is a small stretch to understand that this also happens during exercise, but to a much larger degree than at rest as air hunger increases when engaged in very intense activities. As part […]

By Al Ciampa April 23, 2018

Alactic & Aerobic (A+A) Training. The A+A protocol uses the Alactic energy pathway of the cell to fuel the physical work of the repeat, or set. It then uses the Aerobic energy pathway to replenish the high-energy substrate of the alactic pathway, creatine phosphate, during the recovery period between repeats: Hence, “A” + “A”. Organizationally, […]

By Al Ciampa May 19, 2018

The Kettlebell Snatch Lift. The KB snatch should not be practiced until you have accumulated ample time practicing the one-arm swing. If you have run through the program in the book entitled, “Simple & Sinister” (S&S), then you have built your one-arm swing by introducing the hip hinge, and then progressing to the short-stop drill, […]

By Al Ciampa June 10, 2018

Loading up your walks, or hiking, is a great way to get out and experience nature while getting your aerobic exercise. Here is the link to my article about hiking on the StrongFirst website. Please begin any new discussion in the comments section below.

By Al Ciampa July 24, 2018

You’ve all heard the paraphrase, “he must have a fast metabolism, that’s why he stays so thin/lean”.  Well, let’s think about that.  The physiological definition for metabolism is: the net effect of all catabolic and anabolic reactions.  Doesn’t sound like a recipe for weight management.  Catabolic reactions are those that separate larger molecules, like proteins […]

By Al Ciampa August 2, 2018

Is it too cold outside? Too hot? Are you hungry? Are you tired? Is the corner store too far to walk to? Do you essentially take the path of least resistance at every decision point in every day of your life?  This approach is probably disturbing your health.  Your body’s resilience to environmental encroachment maintains […]

By Al Ciampa September 14, 2018

Perspective is everything.  As a health educator, I look at the body in terms of function.  If function is deranged, you may experience signs and symptoms.  “May” because slightly deranged function can be successfully navigated by the cell.  Beyond a certain threshold, “dysfunction” takes hold and the associated symptoms emerge.  Restoring function should be and […]

By Al Ciampa October 21, 2018

1. Fitness Assessment Scoring and Meaning. The Air Force fitness assessment (FA) is meant to be a health risk marker, serving the same purpose as when testing blood pressure, body temperature, height & weight and/or pulse rate during any medical office visit—if you don’t meet healthy standards, you probably need further assessment by a medical […]

By Al Ciampa February 12, 2019