By Nancy Dow – The Oregonian

Who: Jill LaTray, 43, Aloha; 5 feet 4 inches, 110 pounds

Workout: LaTray is a mother of five children ranging in age from 7 to 18.  A car accident in mid-2008 left her with chronic pain in her shoulders, back and neck.  She couldn’t stand, sit or walk for long, or lift much of anything.  She coundn’t take walks or work in her garden.  Her life became very limited, but her kids, she says, did an admirable job of taking up the slack.

She had tried various methods of obtaining relief when, last March, her chiropractor recommended the BStrong4Life program.  It’s designed to increase the core strength, bone density and muscle tone, and strengthen the spine using (deep-breath) BioDensity Neuro-Musculoskeletal Stimulation and Measurement Technology.  Total treatment time is 10-15 minutes a week.  The program is approved for ages 12 and up.

LaTray begins with a two to five minute warm-up on platforms that vibrate quickly, causing muscles to contract.  She moves to four isometric exercises.  The core pull, chest press, vertical lift and leg press.  Each exercise lasts five seconds.

Feedback:  LaTray says, “Before starting the program I didn’t have any pain-free moments; now it’s the opposite.  It’s just little bits of instead of little bits of no pain.  It’s very exciting.” She says improvement was immediate; by the second week of treatment she was able to garden for two or three hours without much pain.  She also could walk pain free for an hour three or four times a week.  She feels stronger and notices muscle definition in her arms, legs and abdomen.

As the weather makes walking less feasible, she’ll sometimes walk in a mall, but she loves nature trails.  She’d like to get back to biking and cross-country skiing but is taking it slowly and carefully.  In the meantime, her daily routine is much easier.

Nutrition:  She and her family eat mainly gluten- and dairy-free and low -sugar because of her children’s food sensitivities.  They eat a lot of produce, and she makes a lot of soup.  They avoid processed food in favor of beans, rice noodles, grass-fed free-range beef, chicken and turkey.  She uses brown rice syrup and applesauce as sugar substitutes.  Dessert might be a fruit crisp or crustless pumpkin pie.  “You just have to more creative.”  She makes her own flour blends and is grateful for the Bob’s Red Mill store.  The family tends a garden and orders food monthly from a co-op.  LaTray orders fish when eating out.  She drinks tea and water, but no coffee.  Her kids like to cook, and the whole experience has taught them how to fend for themselves.

The story of a pilot, a shirtless spokesmodel, and a transformational home-fitness device.

By Justin PetersPosted Thursday, Jan. 20, 2011, at 3:18 PM ET

See the rest of Slate’s Fitness Issue.

Soloflex, 1978 model If late-night television commercials are to be believed, America’s soft-bodied sofa dwellers dream primarily of three things: owning a knife that can cut through a penny; obtaining cash for gold; and building their muscles with a minimum of time, money, and effort. Of these three dreams, the last appears to be the most pressing. Today, gullible endomorphs can choose from dozens of fitness miracles: the Total Gym, which is endorsed by Chuck Norris; the Ab Flyer, an expensive swing that tones your midsection; the Thigh Glider, which turns leg-spreading into an exciting workout; and the Flex Belt, which uses electronic stimulation to shock your abdomen into six-pack shape.

Twenty-five years ago, though, a single home-fitness product ruled the airwaves: Soloflex. The first comprehensive home-exercise device marketed to a mass audience, Soloflex broke ground with its unique design, which promised users a safe way to build their bodies at home; its magazine ads, featuring close-up photographs of chiseled torsos and abdomens; and its infomercials, which brought those torsos and abdomens to life. Although Soloflex no longer paces the home exercise market, it paved the way for all the Ab Flyers and Thigh Gliders to come and changed the way we think about building our bodies.

To read the rest of this article please go to….

http://www.slate.com/id/2281838