Don’t Neglect Your Brain, Muscles, and Joints

by Greg Pryor, Life Priority co-owner and former Kansas City Royal from the 1985 Championship team

Although I was a pro baseball player for 16 years, my real love in high school and college was golf. I sometimes wonder what might have happened if my life had gravitated towards playing competitive golf instead of baseball.

The reason that I was more drawn to golf than baseball was it was more of an individual performance rather than a team performance. Unlike golf, baseball has umpires, pitchers, and managers, who can have a direct adverse effect on the outcome of your performance (or even if you get in the game). In golf, it is basically your clubs, the course and the weather.

Golf and baseball swings have many similarities. During both swings it is essential to watch the ball, have minimal head movement, and get proper weight shift and follow through. A major difference in the swings is the amount of time between swings. A golfer has several minutes between shots to think about how the next swing (or putt). A baseball player is required to make most swing decisions in a split second. Regardless, playing competitive golf or baseball requires a high level of mental concentration and communication between the brain and muscles.

Hitting a golf ball or a baseball square is mentally physically demanding. Both swings require a certain amount of “muscle memory’ to make the necessary body movements to do what is required to hit the ball square at impact. Both swings also require a quick mental “cleansing” before the next shot or swing. The relationship between the brain and muscles in any athletic endeavor is all controlled by neurotransmitters.

Rudy Ruteger Celebrity Golf Tournament, 2008

Everything that happens in your brain, every memory, every thought, every emotion, every innovation, every “wow, that’s great!” is a result of the release of neurotransmitters. Neurotransmitters are natural substances made by nerve cells in your brain (acquired from your diet) that transmit messages from one nerve cell to another across the synapse that divides them. There is a very good chance that even if you have a good diet, you’re not getting the optimum amount of the raw materials that your brain can use to make neurotransmitters. Contact me at customerservice@lifepriority.com for more info on neurotransmitters.

Athletes who achieve quicker muscle recovery have a better chance to win or succeed at their chosen sport. Muscle Memory™, a product from Life Priority is used prior to exercise (like the repetitious hitting of a golf ball or baseball), to help increase muscle endurance and quicker muscle recovery after exercise. The “miracle molecule” generated from using Muscle Memory improves heart health, energy levels, and impacts every cell, tissue and organ in your body.

Joint inflammation can really hinder optimal performance. To ease joint pain and inflammation many athletes use glucosamine, the main building block for healthy cartilage. Sam Snead, a famous pro golfer, said that when he played well his joints felt “oily”. For a more “oily” golf or baseball swing, I invite you to consider Life Priority’s Joint Decision™ and Total Joint Complex™.

Whether you are trying to perfect the art of hitting of any ball, do not neglect the most important aspects of your swing–your brain, your muscles and your joints.

To your Health! Greg Pryor

Durk Pearson and Sandy Shaw KC Royals 1985 World Series Win

Life Priority, established in 1994, offers supplements that are scientifically-formulated, results-oriented, and GRAS (Generally Recognized As Safe) and are manufactured at USDA and FDA inspected facilities.
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opening day

Make Every Day Your Opening Day for Fitness

Article by Greg Pryor published in Kansas City Sports & Fitness.

Greg Pryor - Kansas City Royals Fans are eagerly looking forward to Opening Day at Kauffman Stadium.  We are tired of single digit temperatures and melting snow drifts. Another “opener” is our signal of the beginning of warmer, sunny days ahead. Every spring from ‘67 to ’87, I was getting ready for another opening day for my college baseball team (’67-’71), or the professional team that I was with (’71-’87).  Maybe you should create an opening day attitude for your fitness schedule.

Your personal fitness goals ought to be structured so that you are prepared to get the most out of your exercise.  Most importantly, and as a compliment to a good diet, you should use dietary supplements to promote your recovery process.    You don’t have to be a professional athlete to benefit from supplements. It’s not all about being able to clock a faster time or lift more weight; supplements also serve as an insurance policy against the additional stress and energy needs brought on by exercise.

“It’s like you have one car to drive around for the rest of your life,” said Liz Applegate, Ph.D.,professor of nutrition at the University of California – Davis, and author of the Encyclopedia of Sports and Fitness Nutrition (Prima Publishing, 2002). “You wouldn’t start taking care of it after it was 20 years old. You would do regular maintenance.”

Just as a car’s maintenance needs change as it gets older, so do those of an active aging body.

“In general, nutrient requirements increase with exercise,” Applegate said. “But at different ages there are other considerations that come into play as well.”

  • Certain nutrients, not readily found in adequate amounts in the modern diet, can help encourage your mental energy and motivation in your job or workouts.  In 1991, I found two supplements, LIFT™ and MIND™ from Life Priority, that I use every day to help me feel bright-eyed and bushy-tailed to tackle each day like it is opening day!
  • Then, protecting the health of cartilage, tendons and ligaments should be at the top of your list as you exercise.  Glucosamine is a smart choice to support joint health and help speed recovery from injury or over use. Life Priority offers two great products for joint inflammation, JOINT DECISION™ and TOTAL JOINT COMPLEX™.
  • Exercise itself produces free radicals so, to prevent free radical damage to muscle tissue and from causing inflammation and soreness, use a mix of antioxidants prior to exercise. I suggest either the Life Priority ONE PER MEAL LIFEGUARD™ or LIFESHEILD™.
  • Finally, an amino acid that I have known about since ’91, arginine, is one of the most valuable nutrients that you can use prior to exercise.  Email me at customerservice@lifepriority.com for a free report on arginine and how to use it (available in the Life Priority product, MUSCLE MEMORY™) effectively for the best workouts of your life (and quicker recovery!)

No matter what your age, your body needs certain essential nutrients every day in adequate amounts. Don’t take your body and brain for granted!  Give it the best chance to have a great opening day, every day!

 

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