Barre with Justine

Fitness and Wellness

little luxuries…

In the mid-nineties, Sarah Ban Breathnach’s Simple Abundance was published. If you were a fan of the Oprah Winfrey show, you may have watched her breathlessly describe how this book changed her life. It IS a wonderful book and one that I bought again (after losing my copy during university moves) during COVID. The premise of the book is to enjoy the simple joys of every day life and look inward to see what our deepest desires are.

For all the simple joys, the author ended up having some not great life changes in the years that followed but I still find comfort and encouragement in the pages of Simple Abundance.

My favourite parts of the book are the “Joyful Simplicities” that are listed at the end of each month (the book is divided into months and themes, with an entry and quote for each day). They are suggestions for simple ways to celebrate the month such as “[remembering] that ice cream is good for the soul” (June) or “mull cider and/or wine on the weekends for an autumn cup of cheer” (October).

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All about planks – one of the best exercises for our core!

Do you stress about including core exercises in every workout?

One of the biggest changes I’ve made in my own fitness routines over the last few years is to work on functional core moves that are gentle on the spine. Based on my experiences with disciplines like Balletone & Barre, and through reading the work of Dr. Stuart McGill, I’ve moved away from a lot of spine flexion (such as crunches) and into more core stability moves.

In practice, this looks like more moves like dead bug (unfortunate name!), asymmetric strength moves such as a single-leg deadlift, and planks. In a plank, there is very little movement in the spine; you may add in some leg lifts or knee drops, but the spine remains neutral and the core muscles are braced. This is important as many of us are dealing with lower back issues and repeated flexion of the spine can place a lot of stress on even healthy backs. In addition, we will often use a lot of momentum to do a move like an abdominal crunch and place stress on our neck & shoulders and hip flexors.

There are so many plank variations that you will never be bored with planks, even the set-up itself; you can do a straight arm plank, a plank with dumbbells in your hands, a forearm plank and a side plank. Best of all, we don’t necessarily need to hold a plank for a very long time – according to Dr. McGill, you don’t really need to hold a plank any longer than 10 seconds to get the benefits.

My favourite variations are:

  1. Forearm plank with single leg lift
  2. Forearm plank with arm extension
  3. High plank with dumbbell drag
  4. Low plank to high plank
  5. Side plank with leg lift and arm extension (just looks pretty!)

Setting up your plank for safe and effective work is important. Here’s some tips:

And don’t stress too much about incorporating a full core section into a workout if your workout includes balance and other moves that engage the core. In Balletone, I feel my core working hard in moves like finding the knee and falling side…it’s great to feel the core working hard during cardio.

If you are curious about the work of Dr. Stuart McGill (an expert in spinal health), definitely check out his website or listen to one of the many podcasts on which he has been featured. McGill’s work will make you question traditional core exercises and reevaluate how you train your essential core muscles!

The Original Fitfluencer: Gayelord Hauser

Long before lifestyle blogs and Instagram influencers, a charismatic man named Gayelord Hauser* charmed audiences from New York to Paris with his lectures and books on health and beauty. We rarely speak of him today but he flourished in mid-century America, mingling with movie stars and royalty, dispensing advice to women on how to improve themselves through nutrition, exercise and self-care. (Read an article from Cosmopolitan all about Hauser’s incredible influence.)

His profound influence in popular culture is documented in his 1984 New York Times obituary, which described his following in Hollywood and Europe, as well as his publishing and broadcasting career. On the surface, he provided advice on diet and exercise; on a deeper level, one could argue that he offered women an opportunity to devote time and care to themselves during a time when their role was seen to be mothers and wives.

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the styles of mid-century America were all about tiny waists and feminine skirts.

I discovered the book Look Younger, Live Longer (1950) in my teens and embraced Hauser’s advice on healthy living and cultivating a rewarding life. True, his advice was quite dated and he referred to ladies that I had never heard of (Lady Mendl?), but I was thrilled by the ideas he proposed and enchanted by the glimpses he gave into the glamorous lives of his celebrity friends. His writing style was both encouraging and coy, as though he were sharing secrets to beauty and health so special that the reader was privileged to be holding the book. Indeed, in the first chapter of Look Younger, Live Longer, Hauser writes: “The book in your hands is no ordinary book. You are holding a passport to a new way of living.” (15)

my favourite Gayelord Hauser book

As we examine Hauser’s life story, we can see a similar pattern to today’s wellness influencers: personal experience of the curative power of diet. Hauser often shared his experience of being cured of tuberculosis through good nutrition, herbal teas, and warm baths. His conviction and personal experience informed the advice he gave through his books and lectures. Modern influencers such as Ella Woodward (Deliciously Ella) and Jordan Younger (once, the Blonde Vegan, now the Balanced Blonde) share their own stories of the curative power of food to immense audiences of followers on social media. The personal stories add to the appeal for followers yearning for that same experience of healing and, given the photogenic nature of successful influencers, beauty.

While Hauser did not have the platform of social media to share his ideas, he hosted radio shows and even a television program in the early 1950s, sponsored by Minute Maid. Hauser was a strikingly handsome man who dressed beautifully, embodying the physical beauty that he promised in his books and lectures. Near the age of 80 he boasted that he could read without glasses and swim miles in his pool.

While Gayelord Hauser’s influence faded during the 1970s, the role and reach of celebrity health and wellness experts has become ever more pervasive in North American society (and, one might argue, around the world). In that time advice on health has often been gruelling, time-consuming and punitive. What I love about Hauser’s books is the effort he made to tie together beauty with happiness, and his emphasis on small, sustainable changes in lifestyle. As an example, he argued that “reducing [never dieting] can be a pleasure” with advice as simple as:

What I love about Hauser’s books is the effort he made to tie together beauty with happiness, and his emphasis on small, sustainable changes in lifestyle.

advice from “Mirror, Mirror on the Wall”

Looking back on the books and lectures of Gayelord Hauser, it is also interesting to note how many of his recommendations on diet and health eventually became mainstream in North America. In Mirror, Mirror on the Wall (1961), Hauser encouraged women to lift dumbbells to get in shape: “Give Dumbbells a Lift and they’ll do the same for you!”. He writes about the importance of sleep and relaxation, suggesting that at least some of his advice had merit — then and now.

Beneath the promises of wellness ‘influencers’ lies the very normal desire to live our lives with beauty, style, and abundant health. It’s why we buy the latest diet book, download a fitness app, or order a supplement based on one of our favourite Instagram accounts. In so many ways, we are just like the men and women of the mid-century seeking how best to improve our lives.

As a fitness instructor who has found the best results from embracing more sustainable, graceful forms of movement I believe that Hauser had many ideas that stand the test of time. His emphasis on good posture, rest and recovery, and time for self-care are approaches that I embrace and share with my participants each week.

I encourage you to rediscover some of the wellness “influencers” from the past, from Gayelord Hauser to Terry Hunt, whose fitness studio in Beverly Hills provided Hollywood stars like Clark Gable and Rosemary Clooney with a space to lift weights and relax. Sometimes the most interesting health advice comes from the delicate pages of books published more than half a century ago!

Hauser’s books regularly topped the bestseller lists (4.)

*occasionally his name appears as Bengamin Gayelord Hauser

References

Hackett, Alice Payne, 1900-. Seven Years of Best Sellers, 1945–1951: Supplement to Fifty Years of Best Sellers, 1895–1945. New York: Bowker, 1952.

Hauser Gayelord. Look Younger Live Longer. Internet Archive, http://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.242460. Accessed 8 July 2021.

Hauser, Bengamin G. Mirror, Mirror on the Wall, Etc. London: Faber & Faber, 1961. Print.

By PETER KERR. ‘Gayelord Hauser, 89, Author; Proponent of Natural Foods’. New York Times (1923-Current File), 29 Dec. 1984, p. 26. ProQuest Historical Newspapers: The New York Times, 122562743.

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