Make a list

My mind is so full of stuff at any given moment, and if I didn’t use
this brain dump strategy, I would go crazy trying to remember all 
of them, much less try to do them in order of importance.

And in fact, every once in a while I think I can just remember 
important things to do and I fail miserably.  

So last night I sat down for an hour, and made a list of absolutely
everything I need to do.  I grabbed my to do list on my phone, the
random to do lists that I’ve been carrying around on pieces of paper
in my pocket, and I made one master list of everything personal 
and business that I need to do. 

And I feel like the weight of the world moved from my shoulders
and onto these two pieces of paper.  It was an amazing feeling and
now on this otherwise chilly and slow moving monday morning, 
I feel empowered. 

So here is what I want you to do.  Depending on whether you are 
a computer person or a pen/paper person, I want you to make a
list.  Write down the numbers 1-100 (you might need a couple
pieces of paper).  

Then spend a dedicated 30 minutes and fill up the list.  EMPTY
your brain.  Even if it’s simple things..just add them to the list.
For example, a list can look like this:

1. Get oil changed
2. Steam clean carpets in gym
3. Fix belt on treadmill
4. Buy and install light bulb in garage
5. Send wife flowers at work
6. Get extra key made
7. Order 100 Gym T-shirts
9. Have a meeting with my personal trainers
10. Clean off desk

Don’t worry about prioritizing that list just yet.  Just dump everything
in your brain that you need to/want to/should do over the upcoming
month, and put it on this list.

Then each day I want you to take a note card and write down 4 things
from your list that you will do each day.  I call this your 1-4 priorities and you

start with the most important first. Keep it in your pocket to remind you.

You can use a diary butyou still need something tangible to pester your pocket!

Yes, you might have other must do’s pop up throughout the day, 
and that’s fine.  All I’m asking you to do is do 1-4 things.  You cannot
end your day until those three things are accomplished…so I 
recommend you try to get them accomplished early in the day.

When you finish one, mark it off your note card.  At the end of the
day, go to your master list and mark all three things off of the list,
grab another note card, and put tomorrow’s 3 Must Do items on it.

Wash, rinse, repeat.  Do this each day and within one month, you
will have nearly your entire list of 100 things accomplished.

Keep this master list in an easy to find place, perhaps your 
nightstand next to the bed at home.  And of course, for the 
entrepreneurs, who will be thinking of tons of things throughout
the day that are needed to add to the master list.  That’s perfectly fine.

On the backside of your note card, jot down anything that comes to
mind throughout the day.  Then add it to the master list at night.

There are tons of computer programs, books, theories, and 
strategies out there.  But this is the one I use because it is easy,
reduced stress immediately, and all it takes is two pieces of paper
and some note cards.  

Do yourself a favor, get ready for the New Year by setting the 
foundation now.  By the second week of January, you can have 
100 things completed, allowing you the freedom to focus on 
whatever you need to.

Make it

The best machine is the one you enjoy. Your more likely to continue to use what you like.

The number of calorie you burn during a workout is primarily dependent on intensity. The greater the intensity,the more calories burned.

The intensity is determined by your heart rate. The higher you drive your heart rate, the more calorie you burn.

Thus, you can get a good workout on almost any cardio piece as long as you keep you heart rate elevated.

The treadmill and elliptical are weight bearing exercises, which increase the work load/intensity.

You can get a bit more of a total body workout with the ellitical because of the arms on it.

However, the leg drive is tied to the arm drive on the majority of ellpiticals. What ends up happening is most individuals usually hold to the arms, allowing the legs to move the arms.

Rather than pushing and pulling with the arms, most individuals hold on…getting more of a passive upper body workout.

You can get you heart rate up on a bike but it is a little harder comparied to a treadmill or elliptical. That because you body weight is being supported.

‘You can elevate you heart rate on a bike but it more demanding.

The most effective workout for burning caloires is an Interval Training Program. This involves pushing yourself for about a minute and then going easy for a minute. Workout lasting 20-30 minutes.

Interval Training not only increases the number of calories you burn during yoru workout but long afer your workout, as well.

Research show you can burn up to 9 time more body fat with invervals compared to low intensity longer workouts.

Research also shows that you metabolism will remain elevated for hours after your Interval Training…meaning you continue to burn body fat/calories long after your workout is over.

Use the machine you like the best. And employ Interval Training.

Fat/weight loss primarly come for diet.

So the question is for those of you wanting faster results is how, right?

Lets look at what Lance Armstrong would do when asked such a question. This is a report read from Chris Carmichael a well know industry expert. Chris says;

You might want to train for a 100-mile ride. Or perhaps explore a few local trails. Maybe you’re looking to just save money on your commute, burn a few extra calories, or strengthen your heart. Whatever the motivation, now’s the time to start pedaling. We’ve got the expert training tips to get you started. Few know more about cycling than Lance Armstrong’s coach Chris Carmichael. We asked the man behind Lance’s seven Tour de France wins for his tips to help you pedal better.

HARDER — Goal: Incinerate fat

“Forget those slow, low-intensity ‘fat-burning’ workouts,” Carmichael says. “Unless you’re single and unemployed, you don’t have enough time for that.” Instead, train like the athlete you aspire to be, and your body will adjust. “Increase your workout intensity—go faster or do sprints or intervals. You’ll burn more calories, getting faster and stronger while you get leaner.”

BETTER — Goal: Ride more

“A light 30-minute spin around the neighborhood the day after a killer workout or epic ride will get you back to full-throttle training sessions more quickly than sitting on the couch,” Carmichael says. By boosting circulation to fatigued muscles and raising your core temperature, this kind of active recovery can significantly reduce your down time, which also increases the number of high-quality training days you can get in each month.”

FASTER — Goal: Gain speed

“Don’t be intimidated by intervals. At their simplest, all it means is that you’re alternating between ‘harder than you can sustain long term’ and ‘easy.'” Intervals are also the key to riding faster. Try riding as hard as you can for two minutes, then spin easy for two minutes, and repeat a few times. “The key is that you’re performing work at a pace and intensity above what you can sustain. It is the time spent at these intensities that will force your body to adapt and make you faster.”

STRONGER — Goal: Build endurance

“Training is a cumulative venture. You make progress by stressing your body, allowing it to recover and adapt, and then stressing it again.” But you have to be consistent. “If you leave more than a week between training sessions, your body views each session as an isolated effort instead of part of a progression.” Aim for a couple of rides per week

So my question for you the Viva team is what will you take away from this to give you a 10% boost this week?

Make it happen….

Today 20-25% of Australian kids are overweight or obese with some population being over 60%.

It is important to understand that as parents research suggests, as well as my own experiences with myself and hundreds of clients that healthy habits start from birth.

1. Promote healthy eating and education in your home.
2. get familiar with  the 5 foods groups and necessary portions.
3. make a distinction between ‘everyday’ food and ‘sometimes’ food.
4. Establish healthy eating routines with 5-6 meals per day.
5. Encourage, compliment and acknowledge when your kids eat well and choose the right foods.
6. Be active daily.
7. Enjoy activity as a family. I educate clients to plan holidays around exercise and not the other way around. you always feel great when you get active and that helps with the ‘reward’ foods when on holidays.
8. limit low activity past-times like dvd’s etc. make rules here and stick to them. This was a reward and not a daily practice in my house and I am thankful for that today!
9. Avoid drawing attention to your child’s weight.
10. lead by example. lead by example. lead by example….

Your metabolic rate affects the amount of energy your body uses at all times. Even when you are inactive, your metabolism is still burning calories, just to keep you alive. Therefore, anything that increases your BMR (basal metabolic rate), such as exercise, will have a tremendous impact on using and thereby reducing your fat levels.

Ironically a diet that is very low in total calories triggers a metabolic response known as the “famine” response. This is a drastic reduction in metabolic rate intended to conserve energy stores and maintain any stored fat that may exist. Although the calorie intake is reduced, the calorie usage by the body is also reduced. Therefore the theory of low calorie dieting as a sole means of reducing body fat is largely ineffective.

This type of dieting leads to become what has become known as the “yo-yo syndrome”. People go on calorie-restricted diets for a period, followed by a return to “normal” eating habits. Weight loss during low calorie diet is approximately 50% muscle and 50% fat (as they are not exercising) and the weight regained during the return to “normal” eating habits is in the form of fat. Not a good result!!

So, if low calorie diets aren’t the answer then what is? Basically, you need to reduce dietary fat intake permanently. Remember that on a per/gram basis, fat is highest in calories and you need to exercise.

The effects of exercise on metabolism extend beyond the duration of your workout. Your basal metabolic rate (BMR) is increased with continued training and this increases your body’s ability to burn fat during recovery/rest days. Remember the burning of fat during the workout is not the key issue; it is the increase in your BMR through exercise that will result in an improvement in your body’s ability to burn fat

t has been thought that poor sleeping habits will not help with performance but what about fat loss?

Key hormones that stimulate muscle building and recovery are released during good quality sleep being Growth Hormone and Testosterone but hormones that [promote hunger are also released when there is not enough sleep. Ghrelin is a hormone that promotes hunger prior to a meal and Leptin tells you your full after a meal. As the study suggests below ghrelin does effect fat loss and Leptin (promotes satiety) appears not to perform as it should when Ghrelin levels are higher leaving people hungry after meals. It is important to note here that hormones are powerful chemical messengers and our intentions maybe the best but controlling your hormones will allow for the correct behaviour. A tough but capable task to be aware of.

The following is a study by a team at the University of Chicago get interesting.

Firstly, the researchers, led by Plamen Penev, assistant professor of medicine at the university, found that when individuals who were dieting got a full night’s sleep, they lost the same amount of weight as when they slept less. The interesting part of the findings came next, when the researchers gauged that a full night’s sleep was associated with more than 50 per cent of their weight loss coming from fat. This compared favourably to only a quarter of weight loss coming from fat when they did not get a full night’s sleep.

Additionally, when sleep was restricted, dieters felt hungrier – making a good sleep doubly important; ‘If your goal is to lose fat, skipping sleep is like poking sticks in your bicycle wheels. Cutting back on sleep, a behavior that is ubiquitous in modern society, appears to compromise efforts to lose fat through dieting. In our study it reduced fat loss by 55 percent’ said Plenev.

For the study, 10 overweight or obese volunteers were placed on restricted diets whereby they consumed 90 per cent of the calories necessary to maintain their weight without the use of physical activity.

Firstly, they were studied for two weeks in a laboratory setting when they were able to sleep for a longer time, averaging 7 hours 25 minutes. Secondly, they were studied in the same circumstances for two weeks but with an average sleep time of only 5 hours 14 minutes.

In each of the two stages of the study, the participants lost an average 3kgs. In the full sleep period, 1.4kg of this was fat (with the rest being mostly protein). In the restricted sleep period, only 590grams of the weight lost was fat.

When sleep deprived, the dieters also developed increased levels of the hormone ghrelin, which stimulates hunger, reduces energy expenditure and promotes fat retention; ‘In our experiment, sleep restriction was accompanied by a similar pattern of increased hunger and … reduced oxidation of fat’ the researchers noted.

Although a link between sleep and weight has been drawn previously, this research provided clearer findings; ‘For the first time, we have evidence that the amount of sleep makes a big difference on the results of dietary interventions. One should not ignore the way they sleep when going on a diet. Obtaining adequate sleep may enhance the beneficial effects of a diet. Not getting enough sleep could defeat the desired effects’ said Penev.

Source: Annals of internal medicine

Hi All

Often I hear friends, members and staff complain of sleep and what is right and what is wrong. The average person does need anywhere between 5.5 and 8 hours each night. This is bare minimum and as your mental, emotional and physical stress elevates, so should your need for sleep.

1.      Anything less than 5 minutes to fall asleep at night means you’re sleep deprived. The ideal is between 10 and 15 minutes, meaning you’re still tired enough to sleep deeply, but not so exhausted you feel sleepy by day.

2.      After 5 nights of partial sleep deprivation, three drinks will have the same effect on your body as six would when you’ve slept enough.

3.      10% of snorers have sleep apnea, a disorder which causes sufferers to stop breathing up to 300 times a night and significantly increases the risk of suffering a heart attack or stroke.

4.      Teenagers need as much sleep as small children (about 10 hrs) while those over 65 need the least of all (about six hours). For the average adult aged 25-55, eight hours is considered optimal.

5.      Some studies suggest women need up to an hour’s extra sleep a night compared to men, and not getting it may be one reason women are much more susceptible to depression than men.

6.      17 hours of sustained wakefulness leads to a decrease in performance equivalent to a blood alcohol-level of 0.05%. The 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill off Alaska, the Challenger space shuttle disaster and the Chernobyl nuclear accident have all been attributed to human errors in which sleep-deprivation played a role. NRMA estimates fatigue is involved in one in 6 fatal road accidents.

7.      To drop off we must cool off; body temperature and the brain’s sleep-wake cycle are closely linked. That’s why hot summer nights can cause a restless sleep. The blood flow mechanism that transfers core body heat to the skin works best between 18 and 30 degrees. But later in life, the comfort zone shrinks to between 23 and 25 degrees – one reason why older people have more sleep disorders.

All individuals maintain an ongoing internal dialogue with themselves. Regarding exercise, this self-talk may emphasize positives such as, “I’m looking forward to meeting Bill and Joe today and having a great workoutbefore we all go out to dinner.” Given the challenges that exercise maintenance presents for most, however, self-talk more often gravitates toward statements that challenge persistence such as, “I can’t believe that I’m supposed to work out today, I’mso tired and rushed. Maybe I’ll miss today and try to do more next week – on a daythat’s less busy.”

Enough internal talk such as this and a member will convincehim/herself to miss scheduled sessions at your facility. Even worse, the cycle may continue until permanent dropout soon occurs.

To counter negative self-talk, exercise psychology has borrowed from counseling psychology to suggest the use of a technique called cognitive restructuring. Research has been minimal, but positive, regarding this method in which an exerciser is taught how torecognize, revise, and “restructure” negative self-statements (Atkins, Kaplan, Timms, Reinsch, & Lofbach, 1984). Three main elements are typical

in effective cognitive restructuring. First, a client is trained in how to notice negative self-talk as it occurs. Second, the individual is trained to put a rapid end to the potentially damaging rumination. Usually, the word “stop” is yelled out internally at the first notice of the negative statement. Finally, the negative is “reframed” and given a more positive, but still realistic, tone. Usually, statements along the following lines work well: “Exercise is one of the best things I can do for myself today” or Once I get going, I know that I will feel energized.” (Annesi, 1999d).

Obviously, this training method seeks to counter self-induced punishers, and replace them with self-reinforcement, whenever needed.

You are what you think you are!

Make it happen

Working at a desk during the day and can take a toll on your posture and leave you feeling stiff at the end of the day. Try some of these exercises at your desk. You’ll not only give your muscles the added benefit of stretching; it will give your mind the mental break it needs as well!

• Neck: To stretch your neck, flex your head forward/backward, side to side and look right and left. This can be done almost anytime to lessen tension and strain. Never roll your head around your neck. This could cause damage to the joints of the neck.
• Shoulders: Roll your shoulders forward about 10 times, then backward. This helps release the tension off your shoulders.
• Arms and Shoulders: A good stretch for your arms and shoulders is to brace your hands on the edge your desk, each about a shoulder width away from your body. Twist your hands in so they point towards your body and lean forwards, hunching your shoulders. Take this a step further and push your shoulders and elbows closer to the desk.
• Wrists: Roll your wrists regularly, around every hour or so. Roll the wrists 10 times clockwise, then 10 times counterclockwise.
• Ankles: Roll your ankles regularly. As with your wrists, roll the ankles in a clockwise motion 10 times, then counterclockwise. This helps improve blood circulation, and prevents that tingling feeling you can get when blood circulation is cut off.
• Chest: Notice if you tend to hunch in front of the keyboard. To counter that, perform the following exercise: open your arms wide as if you are going to hug someone, rotate your wrists externally (thumbs going up and back) and pull your shoulders back. This stretch is moving your body the opposite way to being hunched and you should feel a good stretch across your upper chest.
• Abdomen: Contract your abdominal and gluteal muscles, hold them there for a few seconds, then release. Repeat this for every few minutes all day long while you are working at your desk.
• Calves: Stretch your calves. While sitting, lift up your legs on the balls of your feet and set them down. Repeat until your legs are comfortably tired. Repeat after about 10 minutes later, and continue doing this routine for about an hour or so. This will exercise your calves, and may help prevent blood clots from developing in your legs.

Make it happen!