Announcements:
- Youth Fitness classes will now be available on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays at 4:30 as well as 12 p.m. on Saturdays beginning Monday, January 6th.
- Our Fitness Fusion classes currently being held at 4:30 on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday will no longer be offered at that time.
- We are opening up another option on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 4:30 beginning Tuesday, January 7th.
- For those who still want to get their 3 days in each week, we will still have our Saturday group time at 9:00 a.m. to round out the week.
Thank you for your generous support!
We were able to collect 204 pairs of shoes for area children. Special thanks to Mike, Paulette and Nicole at the Arizona Pavilions Payless Shoe Store for extending a special discount that allowed our dollars to go farther in reaching out to children in need.
Please show your support and consider voting us one of the “Best of the Northwest” for a second time. Click on the picture and follow the link. Thank you for your support!
I Resolve To…
What do you want to accomplish in the coming year? The act of answering this question has its roots all the way back to 153 B.C. when Janus, a mythical king of early Rome, was placed at the head of the calendar. Janus was always depicted with two faces, one facing forward while the other turned to look behind. According to mythology, Janus could peer back on past events and forward to the future.
As we peer back on our past year and forward to the next one, my hope is two-part. First, I hope you accomplished all that you set out to accomplish in 2013. And second, I want to provide some strategies I have researched for assuring that your resolutions will be a success in 2014. First we will explore briefly why most resolutions, unfortunately, fail. Then I will provide some practical strategies to you so that you are more likely to accomplish your resolutions for 2014.
Wanting to change yourself and better yourself is a beautiful and inspiring thing I believe. And it turns out that’s also how most other people think: 50% of all Americans for example set themselves a New Year’s resolution. That’s pretty amazing! What’s not so great is that according to the researcher Richard Wiseman 88% of all those set resolutions from half of America and probably lots of other people in the world fail. That’s 156 million failed resolutions and disappointed minds each and every year.
So, how are you and I going to avoid being another statistic? Well, for starters, we are going to take a short detour to understand what part of our brain is involved in setting resolutions. The pre-frontal cortex, found just behind our forehead, is largely responsible for seeing our resolutions through to completion. As you and I know, willpower is often a key ingredient to achieving our resolutions. The brain cells that operate willpower are located in; you guessed it, our pre-frontal cortex. This portion of our brain also handles short-term memory, staying focused, and solving abstract tasks among other charges. When we set a New Year’s resolution (quit smoking) an enormous amount of willpower is required. Quickly the amount becomes more than our pre-frontal cortex can handle on its own given the amount of available space our will- power is commanding. This leads to a weakened state; much like the weakness we experience lifting weights as muscles get tired. If we have not trained our brains to overcome this weakness, we will succumb to it.
Fortunately, we can train our brains just like we train our muscles. With gradual and smaller doses of resolve, we can make significant improvements in our ability to produce change. The key is gradual and smaller doses. Here is an example of what I am talking about sticking with the aforementioned resolution to quit smoking. If my resolution is left there, it is too big for me to handle. Now, if we shift our resolution to reflect a much smaller dose, stop smoking my one cigarette I have every morning after breakfast, we increase our chance of success significantly. In fact, we have a 50% higher chance of being successful according to researcher Wiseman.
In my searching for information about this interesting process of setting resolutions, I came upon a very interesting site. It is called www.tinyhabits.com. The site was developed by BJ Fogg, a very smart guy who has been studying human behavior for 18 years. On his site he succinctly states the following, “Only three things will change behavior in the long term: having an epiphany, changing your environment (What surrounds you), and taking baby steps.” He goes on to share that creating an epiphany is difficult and not always practical. But, changing environment and taking baby steps are both very much within our control and also quite easy to implement.
All that I read on the process of resolving to do something spoke to this idea of keeping the steps very simple. A great example offered by Leo Babauta, author of a book titled, The Power of Less, was relevant to me. It involved flossing your teeth. This is one of those things that we all should be doing but don’t always do, at least I don’t. His example of a baby step is to floss one tooth. That sounded ridiculous to me when I first read it. However, I understand why. It is so easy! Shouldn’t goal achievement be tougher? My inner go getter says so. However, further reading points out the most important point for all of us to realize from this entire article. It is less about the actual goal and more about the process of achieving it. If the process is simple and easy to follow, we will be successful. Period.
So, start with one tooth, one cigarette, 3 minutes on a walk, 3 pushups…Something so easy but in line with your objective that you know you can do it. Then gradually increase the challenge as you notice your willpower muscles getting stronger. It’s that simple. Keep your objectives in front of you, surround yourself with people who support you and ask them for their support, and just do it, whatever “it” is for you.
Sources:
- http://www.tinyhabits.com/
- http://zenhabits.net/floss/
- http://blog.bufferapp.com/the-science-of-new-years-resolutions-why-88-fail-and-how-to-make-them-work
- http://billpetro.com/history-of-new-years-resolutions
Watch this video for inspiration on finding your own goal.
Client Spotlight
Melissa Franklin
Melissa started working out at BodyBasics with Maureen on the advice of her neuromuscular therapist, Patty Trout. Melissa had suffered from daily headaches and very sore shoulders for years. After her first session consisting of some basic postural and core work, Melissa was in agony but she pushed through that unexpected reaction and hasn’t ever looked back. The headaches are gone, her shoulders are strong, functional and pain free. Melissa has built on her initial successes through consistent hard work and a great attitude. She recently returned from a fishing trip in Alaska that required a great deal of strength, stamina and balance. She also received a glowing report from doctor at her annual check up. She has lost almost 20 pounds, her cholesterol, blood glucose, and blood pressure are all lower! Your hard work is paying off, Melissa, and we’re all so proud of you!
Chris, Mike, Maureen, Amber and Zane
Exercise of the Month: Trunk Stability
Crock Pot Carnitas
Pork is actually a great source of lean protein, as long as you don’t fry or bread it. This slow cooker recipe is a delicious and easy way to enjoy it for dinner.
Serves: 6
Ingredients:
- 2 pounds boneless pork shoulder, cut into 2-inch cubes
- 1 large onion, roughly chopped
- 1 bottle (12 ounces) beer
- Juice of 1 orange
- 1 can (14.5 ounces) diced tomatoes
- 2 chipotle peppers in adobo sauce
- Juice of 1 lime
- 1 teaspoon coriander
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
Directions:
1. Place pork cubes and onion in the crock pot and pour beer and orange juice over top. Cover and cook on low for 4 to 6 hours.
2. Removed cooked pork from juices and set aside. Once cool, shred pork using a fork or your fingers.
3. Add remaining ingredients except vegetable oil to a blender, cover, and puree until well blended.
4. In a large sauté pan, heat vegetable oil over medium heat. Once oil is hot, add pork and sauté to crisp up some of the edges. Spoon or pour in as much sauce as you would like. Continue to cook until sauce is heated through. Serve with corn tortillas, tomatoes, queso fresco, and guacamole.
Recipe courtesy of Pamela Braun of MyMansBelly.com
Referral Reward
Thank you Marge for referring Jennifer Carson to us! As a token of our appreciation, Marge won a gift card to Barnes & Noble. Do you know a person who has been experiencing chronic pain that could benefit from our offerings at BodyBasics? Let us help the ones you love to Move Better, Feel Better and Live Better!
Shout Out
To Two Stand-Up Guys! Andy Vall and Rick Jesson have both improved their posture dramatically through a lot of hard work and dedication.
