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.
How is your 31 day challenge going?
Our in house 31 day challenge is underway. For those who signed up, take a visit to our facebook page and tell us how things are going. For those who don’t know about it, let me tell you. Simply, the challenge is to choose one thing you can commit to with laser focus for the entire month of January. It does not have to be fitness related by the way. The intention is to get us all moving forward simply and positively toward change in 2014.
Please show your support and vote us “The Best of the Northwest” again.
Click the picture and follow the link.
Thank You! A Shoe Drive Update
The BodyBasics community collected 204 pairs of shoes for area school children in need. We wanted to pass on a note of thanks we received from Amanda Forler of Impact Physical Therapy:
We had the privilege of helping the children choose and try on the donated shoes- and what a fun and amazing time! The children were so excited! I’ve attached a few pictures for you. Thank you again for your (and your clients’) enormous generosity! We encountered everything from a child wearing shoes that were 3 sizes too small, to little guy who was convinced he could run so much faster with his new shoes, to exclamations of “SANTA WAS HERE!!!”. When all was said and done- every child at the school had a brand new pair of shoes… not to mention socks too! In total there were some 400 pairs of socks and over 350 pairs of shoes… overshooting our goal by 100 pairs (About 250 children)!!! Below is the response that I got from my contact at Ochoa…
The shoes were extraordinary! The children were thrilled! Parents were pleased and relieved. Once every child had a pair we were able to let students’ families in to pick a pair for themselves. It was such a gift for me to be a part of I can’t thank you enough! Thursday after school we packed what was left 2 large boxes and donated them, as you requested.
You may be receiving notes of gratitude soon…
Thank you!
I hope that 2014 is a blessed and fabulous year for BodyBasics and for your family.Thanks Again!
Amanda Forler
One Foot Forward
My self-efficacy is…First off, before we move on to answer, let’s define self-efficacy. Put simply, it is a measure of our individual ability to complete tasks and achieve goals. It is greatly influenced by how we were brought up. Think back, for example, to breakfast in the morning at your house growing up. Did you eat alone or with family? Was the T.V. your sole source of communication or did you delight in morning conversation with others? Did your parents wake up outwardly looking forward to the day or did they drag along, clearly disenchanted with the idea of getting started?
All of these examples shaped your perceptions of breakfast, anticipation for the day to come, and how to approach it. All of these environmental, behavioral, and cognitive cues, compounded over your life in all situations, did and still do influence your self-efficacy. If you love conversation, can’t wait to start your day with a nice sit-down breakfast, and are even more excited to get into your day, most likely your self-efficacy is high. On the other hand, if breakfast might not even be a thought, you get up at the last possible minute, and you are often rushing out the door, self-efficacy is more than less likely to be low.
Why does this matter? Well, if you have ever set your sights on improvement in some area of your life only to be hobbled by your own choices, look to your self-efficacy as a most likely contributor. Canadian psychologist, Albert Bandura, who is known for his contributions to the development of “social cognitive theory”, a theory based on the premise that we learn by observing others, would speak towards the behaviors you modeled early, and may even be carrying forward presently, as key contributors to your ongoing challenge with achieving goals you may set.
Given that we are right at the beginning of a new year, how relevant to first understand why we may adopt the patterns that we do and then explore how we can still create change despite our environment, behavior, and cognitive cues growing up.
I am going to get personal throughout the rest of this article.You see, I grew up in a house not unlike many of yours filled with every reason to adopt behaviors quite unkind. I was privy to both heavy cigarette smoke, despite being a diagnosed asthmatic, and extreme alcohol consumption. I lost my mom first to divorce and then to a car accident by the age of 9. I was abused physically and emotionally for most of grade school and middle school by my step mother. I failed sixth grade on purpose. I don’t share this to gain sympathy but to demonstrate to you what is possible despite what we are subjected to. Instead of taking up smoking and drinking and who knows what ever other behaviors I witnessed, I went a completely different track. How? Let’s explore. My hope is that by doing so, I can provide some “light bulb” moment for you as you seek change of your own.
I would have to say that early on, I contemplated what it would be like if I was not “here” anymore. I definitely lashed out, getting into fights and keeping to myself. However, I also determined early on somewhere around 10 if I had to put a number to it, that I would not do or be what I was experiencing. I just determined that one day. So, I would say that first thing, we, you and me, have to decide who we will be. At our core, we all have values that guide our decisions. What are yours? Define them and then affirm them.
As I shared, up to sixth grade I was a mess. So much of my life was out of my control. I had to ask to get water. I had two lines on our neighborhood street that acted as my boundaries. No going over to friends. I did not have them because I was not allowed to play past those boundaries. Clothes I wore to school were chosen for me. At a time when peer pressure was high, I was the one with the laughable attire. So, I chose to control my grades and I failed all of my classes. Goal accomplished. Unfortunately, my reward was to repeat sixth grade.
Nothing in my family life changed for the better during the summer so my second school year started right where the first one left off. However, my life was forever changed when my homeroom teacher, Mrs. Bergland, pulled me to the side one day. I truly don’t remember what was said. But I do know that my 1-2 referrals to the principal’s office year one were replaced with 1-2 passes to the counselor’s office year two. These meetings to express myself shifted me from uncaring about my grades; after all they were about me controlling my environment, to caring about me. I went from failing to thriving and finished my second year of sixth grade by realizing the most improved student of the year award. So, my second observation is this. Surround yourself with people you can talk to and who are in support of your values.
Well my story continued with me leaving my house one day to live with my grandma and telling my dad that I would not come back until my step mom was gone. The lesson here is two-part. Success when adopting change sprouts further fruits that make pursuing further change that much easier. Where before I just succumbed to my environment, I now knew I was worth more.
Second, we have control largely of our environments. The greatest and most challenging step is the first one when it comes to change. I think of Peter, one of the disciples, in the book of Mathew when Jesus appears to him and some of the other disciples on the water amidst a raging sea storm. Despite incredible fear Peter calls out to Jesus, “If that is really you, let me walk out to you right now”. To which Jesus responds, “It is me and okay”. Can you imagine the fear of taking those steps Peter must have experienced amongst the crashing waves? Yet, as the story goes, he did take those steps.
So, I say to you, take those first steps. Face fear and instead of running from it (It will follow you anyways) embrace it knowing that by doing so; you will be able to truly change. Define who you want to be. Start by putting your core values to print. What are they? Second, determine how you are living out your values. Are you aligned with them? If not, what steps do you need to take to bring them into line? Third, and most important, take action in those areas that are out of alignment with who you are at your core. Do you need to change your environment? Are there influences in your life that counter your values? Keep it simple though as we discussed in the last newsletter. It is so important to take simple steps toward change. And finally, embrace any anxiety that may come with making change. Remember, the first steps are the hardest ones. But it can be life changing to take them.
Hip Mobility: The Split Squat
Client Spotlight
Dee Fletcher
Dee started training with Chris at BodyBasics in September of 2008 to beat osteoporosis. As a massage therapist for nearly 20 years, Dee understood how necessary it was to keep fit, but she was challenged with how to best put it all together into a workable plan for her. When she started her workouts tended to be more miss than hit outside of her 1X per week sessions and her diet was, we will say, erratic.
Fast forward five years, to present day and Dee has become quite the inspiration to staff and other clients alike every Monday at 8:00 a.m. as we marvel at her completing push ups, pull ups, and dead lifts with very impressive loads. To date her best dead lift is 130 lbs at a body weight of just over 110! It is impressive to be a female and lift greater than body weight but what is even more amazing is that we are talking about a 71 year old grandma!
Dee, your recent adjustments to your nutrition and hydration as well as your very consistent follow up workouts to our 1X each week are all very evident! You are such a joy to coach and your entire family at BodyBasics is super proud of all that you continue to accomplish!
Sweet Potato and Apple Walnut Bake
Ingredients:
- 2-3 Medium sized sweet potatoes
- 3 Fist size apples
- ½ cup Walnuts
- Cinnamon
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 375
- Peel and chop the sweet potatoes into bite size pieces
- Chop the apples to match the potatoes
- Mix potato and apples together in a 13×9 pan, drizzle over the top with a little olive oil. Bake in the oven for 40-45mins or until potatoes are soft.
- Add cinnamon and bake five more minutes.
This is a great winter time dish that is delicious as a side dish or you can have it alone as breakfast or a snack.
