Your Path to a Healthier Life starts with Vitality.

As we come to end of October we're making progress. 90% of electric is done. Sprinklers have been relocated. HVAC ducts have been replaced. Paint & spackle complete.

I've done some basic boxing instruction with my son over the years. I've brought him to a youth class at Aces Boxing Gym in Boonton, but this is the first time I've held mitts for him mainly because I had three wrist surgeries about 4, 5, and 7 years ago. I had to stop holding mitts / boxing with clients / friends, etc about 15 years ago due to debilitating wrist and forearm nerve and muscle pain. However, now at 46 years old, and walking around at my fittest weight of a lean 155 lbs, along with my nearly clean diet which consists of almost zero processed sugars and starches.... I've seemed to have found the "fountain of youth!" I can't tell you how exciting it is to hold the mitts for my son when I hadn't been able to do it for almost 15 years due to wrist and forearm pain. It's true what they say about a clean diet and limiting inflammation!!

I demonstrate back extension type exercises on this 45 degree bench. Many humans do not do enough extension type exercises, or even know what a 45 degree bench is or a reverse hyper extension. Old school body building mentality incorporated much more flexion type sit-up and crunch exercises possibly because these are anterior muscles and they are more visible. "Every body wants a six pack." However, a reason why many people have weak backs is simply because we do not strengthen our back muscles enough or adequately into extension. This video demonstrates a very important aspect that should be included in most fundamentally sound full body strengthening routines.

How not to deteriorate your posture or impinge your shoulder which leads to better sleep is the main premise. I explain why you need at least four pillows.

I’ve been wanting to make this video for a long time, because I usually have to demonstrate this tutorial for new patients.
It’s surprising how many people lie on their side and use their upper arm tucked under their head instead of that all important crucial second pillow. Many people do not know that sleeping on your stomach is the worst for your posture.

Another important part of this video is that it demonstrates how to side sleep while maintaining as neutral a posture as possible which I feel is impossible without a true “hug pillow.”

Finally, most adults suffer from some type of snoring or mild sleep apnea, however turning on your side and sleeping with my four pillow method will help alleviate snoring/sleep apnea symptoms because gravity will not come in to play like it does when you sleep on your back. Reason being, when you sleep supine, due to gravity, the tongue will have a tendency to translate posteriorly which can join with your uvula and tonsils which can temporarily block your air way triggering sleep apnea symptoms.
Even though sleeping on your back with one quality firm pillow is my desired sleep position choice, however turning on to your side is often necessary to fall asleep and reduce snoring and sleep apnea, so it’s crucial to learn how to maintain your bodies correct posture and alignment while side sleeping which is the gist of mt “pillow tutorial.”

This video is private.

I show how to use our "Hamstring Stretch Machine" aka, Everybody's Favorite Machine. Hamstrings are one of the most important, but hardest muscle groups to stretch on our body. You want to avoid forward bending your lumbar spine from a standing position to stretch hamstrings because this will promote faulty posture which can cause more muscle spasms and can speed up arthritic change in your joints (because if your posture / alignment is off this how bone spurs and stenosis type changes in bone occur). Lying on your back is a preferred way to stretch your hamstrings while looping a strap around one foot and pulling, but that can be taxing on your wrist, elbow, and shoulder joints. This machine allows your to get a perfect stretch while saving wear and tear on other parts of your body.

A Functional Trainer / Cable routine is crucial for a complete upper body, shoulder strengthening routine. Our shoulders are ball and socket joints so they move in a 360 degree direction, so we should strengthen and stretch our shoulders in as many directions as possible. This gives us a great chance at maintaining healthy shoulders as late into life as possible while delaying arthritic change.
I demonstrate some of the endless exercises you can do if you have a functional trainer at your gym. Also, as a bonus, all of these exercises are CORE strengthening as well because you must stabilize & keep your core rigid / contracted first in order to move the cable properly.
If you have pain or discomfort during any of these movements, stop, and consult a chiropractor, physical therapist, or medical doctor.

We have the TANK, it's a sled on wheels. After listening to Ben Patrick (KneesOverToesGuy) on the Joe Rogan podcast, I began incorporating sled pushing, pulling, walking backward, and shin raises into my lower body routines. My knees haven't felt this healthy since my early 20's, and I'm 46 yrs old now. I have all of my clients, patients, and Vitality Members push and pull this sled, no matter their age or fitness level. The TANK has variable resistance so we customize it to the clients strength.

@scolacurcio I’ve been building this high-end health club conveniently located in West Caldwell in the same shopping plaza as UPS, in between Jersey Mike’s and Verizon.
It’s been a long road, but we’re finally opening in time for New Year’s Resolutions!!!
Please stop by to check out this new luxury health club which should make it easy for you to want to come here and exercise which besides sleep and a healthy diet, is the best thing you can do for your body.
OPEN HOUSE: New Year’s Day (1-5pm)
Food, drinks, and mimosas will be served (thank you to my family❤️ for making this happen!, and thank you to Karen, my parents, sister, my kids, and some dear friends for all of your help along the way 😊)
If you’re unfamiliar...the other two high-end health clubs in NJ, are Equinox and Lifetime. These places charge about $190-$198 per month😧. My new health club: Vitality Modern Wellness’s equipment is on the same level as what you’ll find at Equinox & Lifetime, but most importantly at an affordable price, conveniently located, and membership doesn’t come with a long term contract, or unfair initiation and cancellation fees.
Our standard membership is $119 / month, but as we soft open throughout the month of January, we’ll be offering a special Introductory PRE-SALE membership for only $99 / month, this offer expires 1/31/24.
Taking advantage of our PRE-SALE membership, will lock in this intro. rate for you for at least 12 months, through 2024.

Many patients of mine over the years have complained of developing back pain while hunching over at their sink the wrong way, which promotes faulty posture. This age and activity related faulty posture is a leading contributing factor to nerve, muscular, and skeletal arthritic type and joint pain. Use this simple hand towel tip which allows your body to easily maintain neutral spine and correct posture / alignment while performing bathroom sink related activities. This allows you to maintain stability throughout your back and spine, etc., drastically reducing your chance of experiencing pain.

This simple technique can have you mastering the speed bag in no time. You have to count along with the 1-2-3 rhythm that you'll hear as your hitting the bag and it's bouncing off the platform. Speed bag drill is a great modality for upper body strengthening and muscular endurance. It's great to include in a HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) workout. It's also a good core exercise.

Push ups are often done incorrectly simply because many de-conditioned adults and children do not have the strength push themselves all the way up from the true starting position. This causes many to perform this exercise without the full ROM (Range of Motion) which is counterproductive cause this can cause a muscle imbalance. Mainly with too much chest/triceps, and not enough back muscle contractions.

I demonstrate one of my favorite and most important exercises for overall shoulder health, etc. It's a ROM (Range of Motion) exercise, so it not only strengthens your body, but it also stretches your shoulder into external rotation which counteracts common age related posture decline of internally rotated shoulders, forward head, and a hunch back that many people develop as they age.

I demonstrate some of the most popular and effective ROM (Range of Motion) exercises that we do here at Vitality Health Club using our Stretch Cage by TRUE. This is a very important piece of equipment to have which will allow you to get a fundamentally sound well rounded exercise routine.

Steve shows some of our many important recovery tools here at Vitality Health Club.

I show the four different types of treadmills we have here at Vitality including: the Woodway Tank Track Treadmill, Technogym Skill Mill (self propelled and sled push/pull treadmill), True Alpine treadmill, and True Traditional belt style treadmills.

Strength, coordination, and mobility training for youth is super important especially to counter act all of the multiple sports that many kids participate in these days.

Over 40 and Struggling to see body changes you want.... Jenn describes a little of what you can do in this short video.

Good advice and how-to for women over 40.

This is our first long form work out video from inside Vitality Health Club - West Caldwell, NJ. It shows what the flow should look like during a well rounded "LOWER BODY & CORE muscle strengthening and flexibility workout should look like. You'll see how I flow from exercise to exercise with essentially no rest because I technically allow my muscles to rest / recover between strengthening sets because I mix in flexibility and or core exercise in between the strengthening sets.

What's special about this is how I show in detail what the latest scientific data is on how to reduce and prevent arthritic type and joint pain, when proper stretching and strengthening is done together. In other words, it's commingled now. Gone are the days of the 80's and 90's, when most people said they were going to the gym to lift. The problem with this out dated lingo is more often than not, these same people would say if asked: that they do not stretch, or they would stretch for 10 minutes at the end, as if stretching was a separate entity to the work out. This outdated dogma has been mis proven since the early 2000's with the advent of the term, "FUNCTIONAL TRAINING," which is a term that came of age because exercise physiologists began to realize that the prototypical body building workout was not conducive to a workout that would help prevent and reduce back and joint pain, etc.

In this workout you'll learn that many of the movements you should be doing as part of a fundamentally sound stretch / strengthening routine are called (ROM) Range of Motion exercises. ROM exercise is a tricky concept for lay people to understand. If you ask people to give examples of a stretch exercise vs. a strengthening exercise. That's an easy question. A strengthening exercise is a squat, push up, pull up, etc, and a stretch exercise is any static hold, for approximately 30 seconds such as a static hamstring stretch. But, when I ask people to define what a ROM exercise is, this typically poses a more difficult question. So I love to explain this important fitness concept to all of my new chiropractic patients, personal training clients, and new members who have joined Vitality Health Club.

A (ROM) Range of Motion exercise is one that obviously increases your range of movement (flexibility), but most importantly, it's an exercise that BOTH strengthens and stretches during the same exercise. The three main examples of ROM exercises I show all new clients are: 1) supine dumbbell flys with elbows straight, 2) supine dumbbell internal shoulder rotation with upper arm horizontally abducted, and 3) a supine straight leg raise with foot dorsiflexed.

Let's break down the four ROM exercise examples that I've just listed, so you can fully understand this important concept.

1) Supine dumbbell flys with elbows straight: This strengthens the pectoral muscles on the lifting phase (concentric contraction), and stretches the pectorals and anterior shoulders on the lowering phase (eccentric contraction) which helps counteract the common age related posture flaws called internally rotated shoulders and forward head.

2) Supine dumbbell internal shoulder rotation with upper arm horizontally abducted: This strengthens the internal rotators on the lifting phase (concentric contraction), and stretches the shoulder into external rotation at the maximum point of the lowering phase (eccentric contraction) which helps counteract the common age related posture flaws of internally rotated shoulders, forward head, and a hump that can begin to form at the base of the neck and the top or your upper back.

3) Supine straight leg raise with foot dorsiflexed: This strengthens the quadricep muscles on the lifting phase (concentric contraction) which mainly helps strengthen and stabilize the knee joint. It also gives a deep bouncing type stretch to the lower hamstring muscle at the maximum point of the lifting phase just before the exercise switches coarse into the lowering phase (eccentric contraction).

On 1/12/25, John Elliott came to Vitality Health Club, to Live Broadcast the weather while also sharing the uniqueness of this new style gym. Vitality is located in West Caldwell, NJ. Various informative segments were filmed throughout the time frame. I edited them together into an 18-minute video!

Carla joined my gym: Vitality Health Club, beginning of 2024. She would come twice a week, taking our two main classes: Upper Body & Core Strengthening class and Lower Body & Core Strengthening class each once per week. One week she limped in and told me she had sprained her knee over the weekend, and she was going to an Orthopedic MD about it, and then subsequently to physical therapy. Since she began going to physical therapy for her knee pain, she would only come to my gym once per week to take my Upper Body & Core Strengthening class.

Week by week as this went on, I saw her knee condition deteriorate, so bad that she began walking with a cane, and could hardly walk. She then told me her Orthopedic MD recommended KNEE REPLACEMENT SURGERY, and she scheduled a surgery date to replace her knee. I then asked, what she had been doing at physical therapy. She described her PT treatment however, the exercises and stretches she was doing didn't make sense to me, especially for someone's condition that's been deteriorating.

I told her very strongly, to just come into my gym during my scheduled Lower Body & Core Strengthening class once per week at least, and I would give her a list of about 10 knee rehab type exercises and stretches to do, and I would guide her while keeping an eye on, to make sure her form was correct. She trusted me thankfully, and took me up on this offer.

Week by week she consistently improved, and began walking better. She ended up postponing her knee replacement a couple months out, continued with the lower body rehab exercise routine that I customized for her, but by now I continued to add more movements each week, as her condition improved. In the end, she CANCELED HER KNEE REPLACEMENT SURGERY because she no longer had pain!

This was profound for her. This unfortunate situation happens often, where uninformed adults do not receive the proper physical therapy type treatment at first. Instead of seeking out proper, well rounded therapeutic exercise treatment that targets the entire body instead of only focusing on one body region, they end up scheduling a life changing orthopedic arthroscopic type of joint replacement surgery. More often than not, successful results for these types of surgeries vary greatly. There are many different variabilities that can effect outcomes of these types of surgeries.

I usually go to physical therapy or for massage therapy whenever I have chronic pain. They are typically the best at getting us past nerve, muscle, type pain, etc. The problem is: sometimes you get lost in the shuffle as a patient and you are given a cookie cutter rehab exercise routine or you're working with and inexperienced therapist. Getting the proper rehab exercise routine is a fine art, and when I say proper, I mean that it's posture corrective. Correcting posture / mis alignments in our bodies, etc, and strengthening the integrity of weakened joints, along with gaining back flexibility & range of motion back into our joints is truly the only way that we can actually fix the root-cause of these joint pain problems.

Steroid injections, NSAIDS, anti-inflammatory prescription meds, gel shots, etc are all merely band-aids, if that. They do nothing to fix the root cause of these problems which 99 times out of 100 are due to poor posture, muscle weakness, range of motion loss, and misalignments through out our bodies.

Introducing Shubert Lesperance, newest member of our Massage therapy team. He's excellent because we used to work together over 20 years ago as personal trainers, so he really knows how to stretch the body in conjunction now with deep tissue, and various different therapeutic massage techniques. He's very accommodating, available, and reliable! He will be a huge help to our clients and friends in reducing their aches, pains etc.

Dr Steve demonstrates the difference between a safety bar squat and barbell back squat. He explains which is much safer and why. His deep squat with arms out in front which he now calls a frog squat has been the most effective squat in helping patients resolve and prevent back pain, and sciatic pain.

Learn how to properly use the Multi Press Machine and maximize your strength training. This tutorial will guide you step by step on how to use the Multi Press effectively at Vitality Health Club.
Most importantly I show how to toggle this True Machine between all three lifts- Chest Press, Incline Press, and Shoulder Press.

#MultiPress
#StrengthTraining
#FitnessTutorial
#GymLife
#VitalityHealthClub
#CaldwellNJ
#FitnessJourney
#WorkoutTips
#StrengthWorkout
#ChestPress
#ShoulderPress
#FitnessMotivation
#MachineWorkout
#TrainSmart
#HealthClub
#WellnessJourney

🔥 Pre-Diabetes to Normal — Member Success Story 🔥

I sat down with one of our members who had never strength trained before and was prediabetic with an A1c of 5.8. After just two strength sessions per week for 8 months, her A1c dropped to 5.2 — back in the normal range! 🙌

📊 A1c ranges:
• Normal: Below 5.7%
• Prediabetes: 5.7–6.4%
• Diabetes: 6.5% or higher

⚡ The problem:
• 1 in 3 adults (38%) have prediabetes
• 1 in 7 adults have type 2 diabetes
• Only 24% of adults strength train the minimum recommended 2x per week

🏋️ How strength training prevents & reverses prediabetes/type 2 diabetes:
• Muscles soak up sugar from your blood like a sponge 🧽
• Opens “doors” in muscle cells so less insulin is needed 🔑
• Burns glucose during & after workouts 🔥
• Reduces harmful belly fat that disrupts blood sugar control ⚡

✨ Have you or someone you know been told you’re prediabetic?
💬 How many days a week do you strength train?
➡️ Share this reel with someone who could use the motivation!

🌳 5-Minute Park Bench Stretch Routine 🌳
Walking, jogging, or biking outdoors? Do this quick sequence to loosen your hips, legs, and back — and keep back pain away!

Stretch order:
1️⃣ Seated Glute/Hip Stretch
2️⃣ Seated Hip External Rotation Stretch
3️⃣ Seated Middle Hamstring Stretch
4️⃣ Seated QL Stretch
5️⃣ Seated Posterior Inner Thigh Stretch
6️⃣ Hip Flexor Stretch
7️⃣ Standing Single Leg Quad Stretch
8️⃣ Neck Lateral Flexion Stretch
9️⃣ Hip Hinge Stretch

⏱️ Hold each stretch ~20–30 seconds.
💪 Your back will thank you later!

Save this routine and try it next time you’re outdoors!
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#BackPainRelief #StretchRoutine #OutdoorStretch #ParkWorkout #WalkJogBike #HealthyBack #PainFreeMovement #VitalityHealthClub #StayActive #StretchAnywhere

3 NEW Vertical TVs are now up at Vitality Health Club! 📺💪

Each screen displays our weekly workouts:
• Upper Body + Core
• Lower Body + Core
• HIIT (Cardio Intervals)

Every exercise is numbered — and those numbers match the exercise photos posted throughout the gym. 🔢➡️🖼️

Just look up, find your number, and follow along.

No confusion. No guessing. Just train.

Vitality Health Club.

He was scheduled for lumbar spine surgery.

Instead, he came to Vitality Health Club — where I personally guided him through a customized lower body and core routine based on my background as a chiropractor.

Over time, his pain improved so much — he no longer needed surgery.
This is not random workouts — it’s programming designed with a clinical understanding of the body.

This is the same structured approach I use with most of our members.

Bone-on-bone… and a double knee replacement candidate!

His X-rays showed bone-on-bone arthritis in both knees, and his doctor recommended a double knee replacement.

But there was one thing missing…

He wasn’t following a proper exercise program.

By “proper,” I don’t mean simply walking or going through the motions. I mean a well-rounded, individualized program that emphasizes posture, muscle strengthening, flexibility, and correcting movement patterns.

I’ve been shouting this from the mountaintops for years.

Many people who thought surgery was their only option ended up avoiding or delaying it after finally being put through a properly designed strengthening and stretching program tailored specifically to their needs.

A proper exercise program is like a game of chess. Every muscle affects another. Weak muscles need to be strengthened. Tight muscles need to be stretched. When you improve the way the body moves and functions, the stress placed on the joints often decreases—and so can pain.

That’s one of the biggest reasons I opened Vitality Health Club. I know how much the right program can change someone’s life.

Watch this short interview and hear his story.

Every person is different. Surgery is the right choice for some people, but many others can significantly improve their pain and function with the right exercise program

#StrengthTraining #HealthyAging #FitnessOver40 #JointHealth #KneePain #SuccessStory #VitalityHealthClub #WestCaldwell