I hope that you had a happy, relatively stress-free holiday season, and a chance to visit with family and friends. I also hope that you didn’t get too far out of your healthy routine, and if you don’t have such a routine, we all know that this is the time of the year when most people vow to start one. Either way, now that the holidays are over, there’s no excuse for not committing some time every day to a healthier lifestyle.
I should warn you that this is a lengthy email, but there is so much great info to share with you this week that I couldn’t hold back. Perhaps you can make becoming more informed about health and fitness issues one of your New Year’s goals 
So how does one begin to commit to a healthier lifestyle? One of our clients just asked me a similar question earlier this week, and here is part of my response to him:
“My recommendation is to approach your health and fitness holistically. From the fitness side, that would mean a blend of cardio, strength, and flexibility, and from the health side, good nutrition, good sleep habits, and stress reduction.
For the nutrition, I am a firm believer that most people know what good eating is, and don’t need someone to constantly preach to them. To me, you can’t go wrong by eating more fruits and vegetables, eating less meat, cutting out the sugar, and other well known basic habits. It really does help to keep track of what you are eating – whether it is done using a computer, a smartphone, or on paper.”
I pointed out that there are many options for accomplishing these health and fitness objectives. For the cardio, walking, running, biking, swimming, and rowing are all great ways to benefit your cardio system. My favorite happens to be the rowing machine, and I have set some goals this year for myself on the erg (more specifically – a marathon in less than 3 hours and 2000 meters in less than 7 minutes; I plan to provide periodic updates on my progress throughout the year).
For the strength part of your fitness, I believe that is what we do best at Fitness Together. Our expert fitness consultants (Chris, Sam, Julie, Iszel, and Kera) can design a program for you that is specific to your goals, needs, and abilities, and will offer continual encouragement to keep you on track.
As to the flexibility, once again, that is something that is incorporated into all of our FT workouts, and most clients find it the most enjoyable part of the training session. Yoga and Pilates are other methods of improving and maintaining your flexibility. (One of my sons just gave me a gift certificate for a week of Bikram Yoga. I thought I was in good shape, but this was something else. The room is kept at 105 degrees, and you are constantly pushing yourself for 90 minutes beyond your limits. I went 6 times in the 7 day period, and I must admit it was a challenging yet enjoyable experience.)
So I hope that offers you some advice on how to approach the New Year with a commitment to your health and fitness.
Finally, there was a great mix of health and fitness news this past week, which I would like to briefly share with you. In fact, a few of you were kind enough to inform me about a couple of the stories from the Wall Street Journal that I reference below.
The first story ask the question “Did Americans get any healthier over past decade?” and unfortunately a quick answer to the question is no. About 10 years ago the government set some lofty health goals for the nation to reach by 2010. By many measures, we did not do so well. There are more obese Americans than a decade ago, not fewer. We eat more salt and fat, not less. More of us have high blood pressure. More of our children have untreated tooth decay. But the nation has made at least some progress on many other goals. Vaccination rates improved. Most workplace injuries are down. And deaths rates from stroke, cancer and heart disease are all dropping. I would encourage you to read the full article.
The second article is a short summary of an interesting study recently published in the European Journal of Social Psychology. The study was designed to look at how long it takes to establish habits. The study reveals that when we want to develop a relatively simple habit like eating a piece of fruit each day or taking a 10 minute walk, it could take us over two months (66 days) of daily repetitions before the behaviour becomes a habit. And, while this research suggests that skipping single days isn’t detrimental in the long-term, it’s those early repetitions that give us the greatest boost in automaticity. This fits in with our approach at FT. The reason we want you to commit up front to a certain time period is becuase we know it takes awhile to establish a habit (this study confirms that belief). In addittion, this is why we encourage new clients to come in more frequently in the beginning because it is the frequency of those early sessions that makes it easier to have exercise become part of your normal routine.
The final two articles I will bunch together, since they both come from the Wall Street Journal. The first one is titled “The Hidden Benefits of Exercise” and the main message is that beyond the typcical benefits usually associated with exercise, research is showing that even moderate physical activity can boost the immune system and protect against chronic diseases. The second story talks about “Why You Should Step Up Your Workout“. According to Dr. Paul Williams, a staff scientist at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in Berkeley Calif., “There is no gene or drug discovery that comes close” to the effects of more and more-vigorous exercise. Dr. Williams’ studies have shown that exceeding the federally recommended exercise guidelines can reduce the risk of stroke, heart attack, glaucoma, diabetes and other diseases by as much as 70% above the benefits of merely meeting the guidelines.
If you’ve read this far, congratulations and thank you! I wish all of you the best with your New Year’s resolutions to become a better you.
To your health and happiness…
P.S. I want to thanks for the many positive comments we have gotten about the new improved look at our Newtown Square studio. It only took two and a half years, but we finally got some artwork on the walls (I guess that’s what happens when you have a couple of guys in charge of the studio), and a coat rack. In addition, our trainers are sporting a new, more “uniform” look.
