Lift – Are You Mentally Ready?

Lift – Are You Mentally Ready?

“It does not matter how much weight it is to lift. If I’m ready mentally for it – then I’m ready” – Arnold Schwarzenegger

Sure is motivating when Arnold Schwarzenegger (bulging out of the very shirt he is trying to sell) is convincingly screaming – “YOU CAN DO IT TOO!”

That you too can be strong. That you can be fit.

Who better to follow than the swole-master himself?

However, don’t let this “movement” give you the idea that if you aren’t a body builder then you aren’t doing it right. You don’t need to be tan, defined, and aesthetically perfect to be obtaining the benefits of exercise. Certainly don’t let it be the definition of your success either.

The benefits of lifting extend far beyond increased muscle mass and an unrealistic bicep circumference – increasing mood and bone density, lowering your risk of diabetes, depression and heart disease, and overall improving your quality of life!

At COR we actively support the movement of fitness for everyone – starters, experts, big or small.

So come with us if you want to be lift. DO IT! Because, we too are trying to make the world healthy – concentrating on fitness for everyone.

Strength training also plays a key part in something new we are bringing to you. We have another little trick up our sleeve with a program we’re introducing – hiking …and we can’t wait to share with you next week.

What are your thoughts? Is lifting moving you toward motion or away from the gym?

The #1 Way to Get Your Child to Workout

The #1 Way to Get Your Child to Workout

“No man has the right to be an amateur in the matter of physical training. It is a shame for a man to grow old without seeing the beauty and strength of which his body is capable.”   – Socrates

Fact: DID YOU KNOW… many children in the US are way too sedentary…

Unless you are disconnected from the modern world..I promise you hear this shocking fact every day. Research, morning news reporters, doctors, now even our boss…we can’t escape…people are lecturing us left and right in efforts to motivate us into motion.

Shows how much it’s helping…

We all know we need to be more physically active – and we certainly understand how critical it is for child development and of course our personal health – but that doesn’t seem to get our butt off the coach.

Last time I checked  – after reading the latest research, listening to the morning news reporter, or leaving my yearly check-up – I didn’t miraculously levitate and end up on a treadmill (that would be nice though!…someone invent that).

Obviously we’ve become immune to it….

-Maybe you could care less (it’s not worth it)
-You value other things more (*cough cough* that nightly long awaited bowl of ice cream)
-It will never happen to you – (out of the many thousands of subscribers…I guess there’s a chance you could be in the 3.5%…yes 3.5% of adults who do the minimum amount of physical activity (PA) recommended by the Department of Health and Human Services (150 minutes a week of moderate activity))

Let’s look at this differently…

42% of children (6-11 y/o) engage in the recommended 60 minutes of PA most days of the week…ok…at least some of them our moving (I’m sure it’s your kid, right?)

..Hit adolescence (12-19 y/o ) and the percentage significantly drops to 8%!

42% – 8%?! Seriously…what is going on that makes someone stop?

SELF–MOTIVATION

-It’s more than an Monday Motivational newsletter (even though this is great, right?!)
-It’s more than shaming kids on their weight and lack of play time with friends
-And it’s more that yelling at them for spending a stunning 6-8 hours a day on their screens and forcing exercise upon them by taking away their electronics, phones and TV’s

…and don’t even think about using poor sports performance as a motivator to get them out practicing more.

“If Americans know exercise is so good for them, why don’t they take the message to heart as they did the exhortations against smoking? And if exercise makes people feel so good, why don’t they just do it?” – Gina Kolato

Research is beginning to point at something new – the message. Obviously the current ones have no effect on us.

It’s a lot easier on you if you make it so kids WANT to do be active.

How many times do you yell at your kids “go play outside”….”in a minute!”…

You don’t want to yell, they don’t want to be yelled at. Simple.

Make them want to do it. YES..make them want to go play, enjoy themselves and be active. I know..a difficult phenomenan to wrap our heads around.

The key: Giving kids and teens autonomy toward their choice of being active.

A recent study out of UGA discovered teens who don’t feel in control of their exercise choices or who feel pressured by adults to be more active, typically do not engage in physical activity.

The same research found that middle school students were less likely to be physically active if they didn’t feel in control of their exercise choices or if they felt pressured by adults to get more exercise.

“Can we put these children in situations where they come to value and enjoy the act of being physically active?” – Dr. Rod Dishman

Dishman explains just how there are kids that are more drawn to music or art, the same exists for physical activity. So we need to find a way to draw in those kids.

Above all, parents and teachers shouldn’t make children feel guilty for not being physically active.

Dishman’s research studying the Motivation and Behavioral Regulation of Physical Activity found that this developmental period during youth and adolescence was highly critical because physical activity declines without intervention, and self-identities are sensitive to social influences.

The results suggested that motivation for physical activity became more autonomous (i.e. exercising because they enjoyed it, it was a part of their sense of self, or it made them feel good) for some children as they moved through middle school, but introjected regulation (internalized social pressures to be active…like from classmates, parents, news, etc.) also became much more influential.

This is where things could be going wrong. This type of motivation is not effective for long-term adherence…

All these people telling us to be active is actually detrimental “This can result in anxiety, guilt, and shame, which might be detrimental to psychological development and health in some children.” Needless to say, this is not regarded as a desirable target for interventions to increase physical activity.

However, there were strong correlations providing additional evidence on the importance of children’s self-identity for physical activity during a transition period when identities are especially malleable…meaning parents, peers, coaches, and environment play a huge role in establishing a lifelong physically active life…and love it.

Key Points:

• To get your kids moving allow them to find an activity they enjoy.
• Immersing kids in fun, enjoyable activity early on allows them engage in an environment where it is part of how they see and express themselves
• Let them do something they love (whether it be because of friends, the activity, weather…anything!) so they see value, and the enjoyable return they continually receive. The intrinsic motivation will follow.

The most important piece: It’s more than just getting them active, the social component, the life skills, the importance of healthy developments, the learned aspects through team sports..the reason it is so important to have kids enjoy and want to be active at a young age is that you are instilling lifelong habits….

This leads us to part 2 next week – how to get yourself moving.

I love this question by Dishman, “Can we put these children in situations where they come to value and enjoy the act of being physically active?“ – Now apply it to yourself..what are you doing to allow yourself the chance to value and enjoy being active.. how can you share that excitement with others?

Reach New Heights of Success – Half Dome Hiking

Reach New Heights of Success – Half Dome Hiking

“There are no secrets to success. It is the result of preparation, hard work, and learning from failure.” Colin Powell

Following a daily routine is comforting, creates stability, and provides us with predicability to accomplish daily success. It also means we are missing out on an opportunity to step outside of our comfort zone – where we experience growth and meaning.

Growth is about pursuing new opportunities that stretch us beyond our comfort zone. It’s about venturing boldly into the unknown. Defaulting to what is comfortable often leads to missing out on a greater contribution and experience. Sure, there is always a risk of failure. However, unless we assume that risk there will also never be that chance of success either.

Small risks are glorious, and while unsettling at first, you leave rewarded and open to amazing new life experiences.

COR is introducing you to something a bit off the map…switchin’ up the same ol’ routine. Our newest program and ultimate challenger – the 90 day Half Dome Hike. From competitive athletes to weekend warriors – as with any physical activity, preparation is critical to avoid injury, maintain adherence and minimize safety risks. Day to day workouts, packing preparation, health recommendations, dietary needs – we got you covered.

Here’s everything you need to know to get you started…for free – 90 Day Half Dome Hiking Guide

Not yet convinced you want to hit the trail? Let us help.

1.  The cognitive benefits have been tested for years now. Between the increased  exposure to nature, combined with the decrease in technology – hiking has been shown to enhance creative problem solving and improve a variety of other psychological indices. In addition, hiking induces positive affects of concentration, facilitates memory, increases your sense of accomplishment, and evokes a calming sensation.
2. Recent research has found how group walks in nature are associated with significantly less depression, perceived stress, and greater positive mental well-being. They concluded that hiking could be a potentially important contribution to “both public health and individual well being with benefits in mental health, coping with stress, and improved emotions”.
3. Hiking facilitates interaction with nature, social interaction when with friends and family, and promotes physical activity – all which support mental, emotional, and social wellbeing as well as mitigate the effects of stressful life events.
4. Physically, hiking does it all. Aerobic activity, strength from the hills, and balance on the rough terrain.
5. It’s free. The perfect activity for a large family, the frugal college student, or those lacking a of gym membership.

It’s time to knock Half Dome hike off the bucket list.

In 90 days we will help you reach new heights Create the confidence to conquer. Provide the preparation to prevail. Give you the coaching to crush the trails.

Free 90-Day Half Dome Hiking Guide

A College Student's Mentality to Exercising (that actually got people exercising)

A College Student's Mentality to Exercising

“Men ought to know that from the brain and from the brain only arise our pleasures, joys, laughter, and jests as well as our sorrows, pains, griefs and tears. … It is the same thing which makes us mad or delirious, inspires us with dread and fear, whether by night or by day, brings us sleeplessness, inopportune mistakes, aimless anxieties, absent-mindedness and acts that are contrary to habit…” – Hippocrates

How might we put children in situations where they come to value and enjoy being physically active?

The better question is, how is this different for adults? Is it?

Last week we touched on the importance of getting our children to work out ..and how – but as adults, are we any better?

When kids hit adolescence (12-19 y/o ) the percentage of kids meeting activity recommendations significantly drops to from 42% of kids to 8%!

8% in adolescence…do you think that miraculously improves once they became an adult with a career and kids and school and everything else happening?

“Only 3.5 percent of Americans between the ages of 18 and 59 do the minimum amount of physical activity recommended by the Department of Health and Human Services (150 minutes a week of moderate activity).

Take a guess…it must get better after 59?

Over age 60, the percentage is even lower…2.5 percent

Children who watch TV for 3+ hours a day have65% higher chance of being obese than children who watch for <1 hour. We give children a hard time for being attached to their screens, but ask yourself how many hours a day you are staring at your computer during work. I challenge you to track yourself this week. You’ll discover the results can be brutally alarming. 

It’s easy it is to sit back and kick in on the couch after a long day. Moving is exerting. As a recently retired collegiate athlete, I now have the option to set my schedule like the average college student.

So what did I do last week – I put this to the test.

Playing. 

Three college roommates took it upon themselves to conduct a personal experiment. Each evening would end as it would circa 2000. The activity varied by day – kickball in the street, biking, going to the park, rip-sticking (all for the sake of science, right?). They played outside after school under dark.

The Results: We need to change the focus of where we find pleasure in the experience. 

I had the honor of speaking and listening to one of the leading researchers in the topic of the exercising brain this week, Dr. Rod Dishman, to better understand the interaction between physiology and psychology.

With over 200 publications of research on the effects and interactions between the brain and exercise, he’s discovering support of exercise in more ways than we once realized – but what good does knowing these benefits do unless we can apply it to making changes in our health?

I had the chance to ask Dr. Dishman how we can take the ground breaking neuroscience of exercise and apply it to public health through motivation. His unique experience applying the science to behavior through motivation is game-changing.

We forgot how to ‘play’. 

‘Play’ get’s lost as we grow old – we forget the enjoyment in a game of kickball with our neighbors, or rollerblading on a nice spring afternoon.

“Exercise is like hitting our hand with a hammer, it feels good once you stop” – Dr. Dishman

What does it all come down to? Our experience. 

We need to figure out how we can change our perception and interpret “feeling good”….via the exercise experience we have and the enjoyment we take from it.

It’s our nature to seek beneficial experiences. Of course, we know there are many benefits to exercise – but we can’t feel our bone density increasing, BDNF releasing from our brain, new blood vessels forming, our blood lipid levels changing.

Let’s use one of the best examples in science – fatigue. Of course your first reaction when tired isn’t “Wow! I should go run…maybe I’ll have more energy!”…that’s nuts. Why would running GIVE you energy…it’s exerting.

The act of exerting ourselves seems counterintuitive. However, people who exercise regularly can attest to the differences in energy level and know when they feel sluggish, while it might be hard to get off the couch – it increases feelings of energy and decreases feelings of fatigue.

This is how we need to look at exercise.

We can notice adjustments in our sleep, our mental clarity, our behavior – these are obvious changes if we become mindful of them.

We must find ways to enjoy the experience and further find pleasure in the results – such as feeling good after a workout or improved productivity. As we become aware of these benefits, we will soon anticipate that pleasure and associate it with activity.

HOW:

“Broaden the menu” – Reintroduce ‘play’. Surround yourself with an energizing community through a fitness class. Associate activity with a ‘break’ not exertion. Take the dog on run, or the kids for a bike ride. Make activity your solution for a long day that leaves you ready for bed, clears your head, and maybe energizes your brain to get out that last email before you decide to call it a night…even more – see the long-term benefits. Play.

How are you finding ways to incorporate breaks of activity in your day? Do something this week to bring back play

One Easy (and free) Way to Take Your Workout to the Next Level

One Easy (and free) Way to Take Your Workout to the Next Level

“The key to long-term success is a willingness to disrupt your own comfort for the sake of continued growth” – Todd Henry

This workout video of T-Swift doesn’t only have us laughing but now I’m finally reassured we aren’t the only crazy ones taking drastic measures to get pumped up for our workouts.

If you “hate cardio”, can’t wake up…maybe soreness kicked in or you straight up aren’t feeling it today…thankfully many tools exist to launch us into a great mindset and enjoy a productive workout. You can have accountability of friends, family, and coaches, triggers, goals, races, etc…but our personal favorite…

Music

For over 100 years, starting when an American investigator found that cyclists pedaled faster when listening to some tunes, researchers have been discovering the power of music in leveraging our workouts, mood…and even diet ?!

We all have those days when the last things you want to do is that dreaded long run…but music can override our physiological feedback that we would otherwise be focusing on..as well as change our perception of effort.

Try to tell me it’s not easier to run 8 miles when you have Eminem bumping in your ear. 

One of the leading experts on the psychology of exercise music wrote that one could think of music as “a type of legal performance-enhancing drug” and that it has the ability to “promote ergogenic and psychological benefits during high-intensity exercise”. 

I guess Drake’s been reading up on the scientific journals as well…”[finding] his tempo like [he’s] DJ mustard” is really what got him here.

When healthy individuals performed sub maximal exercise, they not only worked harder with faster music but also enjoyed the music more when it was played at a faster tempo. This is suggested to be an evolutionary effect of our brain expecting that whenever there was music, there was movement.

Two other savvy uses of Music…

The singing/rapping/talking test:

How hard are you really working? Can you belt out Kelly Clarkson’s bone-shaking high notes or are you huffing-n-puffing trying to make it to the end of the HIT session? This is a great judge of our effort and a helpful tip for measuring relative intensity and keeping us in necessary workout efforts. If you’re doing a mod-int workout..I should expect you to be able to talk, maybe rap…but not sing. Vig-int? Anything more than a few words and you gotta step it up! (except we always encourage you to sing or dance at the end..(Go Elena!)

Music makes brussel sprouts taste good:

Okay well I actually like brussel sprouts..but for the picky eaters out there – this is game changing.

News fresh in the world of music research – the music you’re listening to could greatly influence your taste perception.

A recent study linked background music to the enjoyment of food and sweet taste perception.

What went down: Participants who were digging the music while eating something sweet (like chocolate ice cream) experienced a sweeter taste. BUT when they didn’t like music, that same chocolate ice cream was nasty and bitter.  You don’t need scientist to confirm music elicits positive emotions..but they did…and they found it correlates with our perception of sweetness.

Put it to the test: Next time your forcing down the veggies or serving the kids dinner – crank up your fav jams… see if your experience enhances the sweetness of “blander” foods. So long dessert!

What makes you what to wake up and grind? How can we help you set in motion a course of action that will allow you to unleash your best and most enjoyable workout?