“Health is the greatest of human blessings.”
~ Hippocrates
Hello and welcome to V10 Health!
My life, as a child and adolescent, was seemingly normal to all those who knew me. However, what no one knew was that I suffered with severe depression. No matter what I did, this disease was ever-present. My elementary and high school years were agonizing to say the least. After high school, I was more lost than ever. With no direction or sense of purpose, I almost ended my life on several occasions.
Fortunately, I was invited by my best friend to try a Kung-Fu and kickboxing class. Little did I know, this would be the start of my journey into health and wellness. I was nearing the end of a financial services program in college, but something within convinced me to change my path. Soon afterward, I became a personal trainer and set out to be one of the best. The human body fascinated me so I began to do something that I never did before – read. Reading opened my eyes to a difficult truth. I was very ignorant. There was so much I did not know or learn in school.
I quickly realized that I could not rely on standard schooling alone to get ahead in this field and in life. I continued to read, do research and take private courses from some of the leading experts around the world. The more I read, researched and self-educated, the more different, new worlds emerged. I started to learn and expand my knowledge far beyond fitness. I began to study nutrition, lifestyle habits and self-development, etc. All this information gave me some hope. Maybe I could find the answer to my struggles with depression?
Every time I incorporated a new health principle, I felt myself improve, but I could not shake off the depression. It was like I was putting together a puzzle, but there was a huge section of pieces missing. My personal evolution began with the physical body where I implemented solid fitness and nutritional practices. Next, I began adding healthy pieces for the mind with thought awareness, positive affirmations and reprogramming destructive belief patterns or thought paradigms. But the last piece I integrated was spirituality which eventually made me whole again and completely healed me from my life-long silent, struggle with depression.
After healing, I realized the vital role that all 3 major pieces play in our wellbeing. You cannot neglect or be dysfunctional in any of these 3 parts if you want to live your life to the fullest. In truth, if all 3 parts are not integrated and balanced, you will likely suffer in one way or another (such as I did). As I learned earlier in my career with personal (fitness) training, we are all unique. Generic programs may work well for some people, but definitely not for everyone. Well, it is no different in other aspects of health too. There is no single fitness program or diet or lifestyle that is the best for everyone.
What’s more, what may be best for you today may not be what is best for you a few months from now. As you implement holistic health practices, you evolve and level up. Your goals may change and require a totally different plan of action. I developed a scoring system which takes all of this into consideration. It was designed to assess your current level or v-score (vitality score in a given area or areas) and the discrepancy between your current state and the state you need to reach to attain your goal. This makes it very clear for you to see exactly what you need to do in order to reach goal(s).
For example, let’s say John came to me and he was over 37% body fat. His goal is to drop 12% body fat (get down to 25%). The problem is, John is unwilling or not ready to make any dietary, lifestyle or fitness changes except for increasing the amount he walks each day. After assessing his average steps per day, we discover that he is currently taking an average of 1000 steps per day. What is the discrepancy to his goal? His goal is to get to 25% body fat which is a v-score of V4. If John wants to move closer to his target, he has to gradually increase his steps per day from 1000 to about 5000-6250 steps. Of course, John will need to make more changes in the future, as steps per day is only one health category out of several, but at least he will be moving in the right direction. Such small changes are usually enough to elicit some positive results and motivate people to make more, greater changes afterward.
I have put together several of these v-score charts for fitness, nutrition and lifestyle and in part 2 of this introduction, I will describe the V10 Health Scoring System in more detail. What I like about these v-score charts is that they clearly show you what it takes to reach a certain level. Some people may not know what it takes to reach a certain goal and this system acts as a guide. Others may see or realize that their goals may be a bit too ambitious according to how much they are willing to change (sacrifice and work). As a result, their goals are adjusted to something more realistic where they are happy with the results and yet, happy to be living a lifestyle that is not too restrictive.
Do you have any health and fitness goals that you would like to achieve such as fat loss, stress reduction, increase energy and strength, etc.? Do you want to know exactly what it takes to reach just about any of the goals you set for yourself? Are you interested in learning more about holistic health and increasing your vitality level? Are you curious about the body, mind and spirit and how certain practices can challenge and elevate them? If you answered yes to one or more of these questions then you have come to the right place. I look forward to helping you level up!
Your V10 Health Coach,
Sal Crispo