Category Archives: Strength Training

Fitness Guru : Spare your spine with smart core core work

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Plank with shoulder abduction- an example of a smart core exercise that spares the spine and creates “core stiffness”.

When you’re working on your core, choose exercises that enhance spine control and increase muscle endurance. Don’t make the mistake of using only exercises that move the spine, like sit-ups or roll-downs.

Social media is loaded with core workouts, but are mostly concerned with having ripped abs, and often ignore the real role of the core. Consider training the core differently than you might have been coached or are used to, in that you want to limit spine motion.

Your spine is very different from every other joint in your body, as it allows both movement and stability. The spine allows for tremendous mobility, as it has 33 individually stacked bones, each separated by a disc. But the spine is not a free-standing pillar. Rather, it is more like a radio tower composed of guy wires to stabilize it. The function of these guy wires is similar to that of the numerous muscles and ligaments that wrap around our spinal column: They provide tremendous strength and support, notes Dr. Stuart McGill, one of the most widely acclaimed spine researchers in the world.

Each muscle of your core, all 29 of them, must provide a certain amount of tension and stiffness for the spine to remain strong and resilient. It’s not that spine movement is bad, but we want to limit it when lifting or loading a flexed back. You’ll diminish chances of your spine buckling or getting injured by incorporating spine stiffness in your core work.

I’ve worked with numerous athletes who appear strong, yet when it comes to performing functional strength moves, their core foundation is actually quite weak. Elite athletes all over the world all rely on core stiffness as the center of power. Enhance your overall core strength and posture by sparing excess bending of the back, in your core work, and throughout the day.

Pallof Press with isometric hold

The Pallof Press starts with a load held isometrically at arm’s length. In this move, using a cable machine, the arms extend and retract throughout the movement, gradually changing the length of the lever arm, then adds a 2- or 3-second isometric hold. A top-notch move, this exercise increases the involvement of the stabilizers of both the shoulders and the core. The Pallof press is an excellent example of multiplanar core movement, unlike the days of only training muscle isolation.

  • Preset the cable’s line of pull to shoulder’s height and set the weight to a reasonable resistance.
  • Stand on one leg, perpendicular to the cable line of pull.
  • Grasp the handle with both hands and hold in front of the chest.
  • Brace the core , depress the shoulders, and extend the hands in front of the body and back toward the body. 8-12 reps; adding a 2- to 3-second hold at full arm extension.
Pallof Press, using a cable machine; standing on one leg. There are many variables in this move, such as performing it in a kneeling position, or in a neutral stance.

Stir the Pot

  • Start in a plank position, with your forearms securely resting on a physioball, hands flat.
  • Brace the core, and extend the arms out and away from you, and back again, as if you were stirring a big spoon in a pot.
  • Circle the ball in one direction for 30 seconds,
  • Rest, and circle the ball in the other direction for 30 seconds.
Stir the pot. Variables include making bigger circles with your arm drive, or “shaking” the ball back and forth.

Published in The Idaho Mountain Express, November 15, 2024

https://www.mtexpress.com/wood_river_journal/features/fitness-guru-spare-your-spine-with-smart-core-work/article_9970b89c-a208-11ef-a9be-5f37a072142a.html

5 essential exercises you need

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Daily habits can be powerful. Routine anchors us and builds resilience and health. Adding a routine or mini-structure to your day so that fewer decisions need to be made is one way to succeed. When it comes to your health, preventing injuries in any activity you enjoy is crucial. Here are five injury-preventing exercises to put on your habit list that don’t take up too much time. Whether you are a seasoned athlete, or simply just enjoy being active but don’t want to get hurt, incorporate these moves into your day.

Activate the core: Heel on toe crunch

A demonstration of the heel-on-toe crunch. Photo courtesy of Connie Aronson

The core muscles help stabilize the spine and support movement. The following two core exercises have minimal movement, and are far more effective than a standard sit-up. The heel-on-toe crunch spares the back, while building muscular fitness. You begin the crunch by stiffening the abdominal muscles and slightly raising the head and shoulders off the ground. Count to 10, then lower back down to the starting position. To a viewer it might not look like you’re doing much of anything, says Stuart McGill, but with proper technique, you should feel like you’re working.

  • Begin with your legs straight, left heel on top of right foot.
  • Bring your left hand behind your head for support, and lift your right arm straight up from your shoulder.
  • Curl up, raising your head, neck and shoulder blades off mat, tightening your abdominals.
  • Slowly return to the start position. 10 reps. Switch sides.

Side lying hip lift


A demonstration of the side-lying hip lift. Photo courtesy of Connie Aronson

  • Lying on your right side with your knees bent (or straight for advanced variation), place your right elbow under your right shoulder. Push your shoulder away from your ear to engage the shoulder girdle.
  • Avoid letting your rib cage slump toward floor; maintain natural curve of spine.
  • Exhale and lift your right hip off floor. Hold for 10 counts.
  • Slowly lower to start. 6-8 reps. Switch sides.

Stretch tight hamstrings


A demonstration of a hamstring stretch using a yoga strap.

Tightness in the back of your legs may be a sign of instability in your core, causing the leg muscles to overwork and shorten. As well, hamstrings are an important muscle to stretch if you have back pain, as they attach to the pelvis, which attaches to the back. An excellent stretch to ease the tension in the back of your legs is the hamstring stretch using a strap.

  • Lie on your back and place a yoga strap or rope under one foot, with the other leg straight, on the floor, heel flexed.
  • Slowly extend the leg toward straight.
  • If it is too difficult to completely straighten the leg, bend the opposite leg.

Foam roller alignment

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Lying lengthwise on a foam roller not only feels good but encourages good spinal length. We’re all guilty of bending forward while scrolling on our phones, resulting in a “forward head.” For every inch that your head is forward there’s 10 more pounds of pressure on the neck. Reset your alignment every day by lying on a foam roller. Lengthening the lumbar erector spinal muscles helps encourage neutral alignment and good posture.

  • With your knees bent, lie on a roller, head supported and neck in a neutral position.
  • Tighten the abdominals.
  • Gently roll side to side for 20-30 seconds.

The sock test

A demonstration of the one-legged sock test.Photo courtesy of Connie Aronson

Losing your balance as you get older is no joke. Research has shown that the ability to stand on one foot drastically decreases after the age of 60, along with a rapid increase of falls and injury. The ability to stand on one leg is imperative for gait and function.

The sock test takes the exercise a step further. Practicing it is a fun challenge to build strength capacity and balance.

  • Holding a sock, stand on one leg, knee slightly bent.
  • Bring your right leg up toward you as you put your sock on
  • Lower the leg to the floor and repeat with your left foot.

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Get flexible with the TRX deep squat

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Deep squats can improve hip mobility and leg strength.
Photo courtesy of Connie Aronson

How easy is it for you to sit in a deep, bodyweight squat? Deep squats are a natural human movement. Knees fully bent, buttocks low to the ground and heels down, it’s a posture still used by people young and old, whether while eating, playing games, socializing or doing household chores. I’m not suggesting giving up chairs, but practicing deep squats on a regular basis is great for your hip mobility and leg strength.

Called the “primal” or “Asian” squat, the position requires hamstring, glute, ankle and hip mobility. Also, the front shin and spine need to be strong enough to hold you in position. For most people with healthy knees, a deep squat can improve the strength of the stabilizing ligaments and soft tissues. If you have problems with your squat depth and range of motion, specific calf and ankle stretches can also be helpful.

In a deep squat, you have to flex your ankles. The front shin needs to move forward over your toes. A limited range of motion in your ankles can affect not only good squatting form, but sports performance and balance. Two big muscles on the back of the leg, the gastrocnemius and soleus, provide movement, and are often tight or stiff. Both of these muscles attach to the heel via the Achilles tendon. These muscles play a big role when you flex your ankles.

The ankles have to bend. Dorsiflexion involves being able to bring the lower leg over the foot. It occurs any time your foot hits the ground. And, of course, in a squat. Using a TRX for assistance and stability, as shown, will help you experience a deeper stretch than you thought possible in both the ankles and hips in the deep squat. With daily practice, you’ll be able to get down on the floor and play with your kids or grandkids, impressing them with your youth!

TRX deep squat mobility warm-up

Hold onto a TRX, set a medium length and sink down into a low squat. Sink, sway and move side to side to open up your hips. Pull your hips both forward and back. Keep your heels down. Perform three to four reps of 20 to 30 seconds before standing up.

Once you are in a deep squat, sink, sway and move side to side to open up your hips & allow the shins to move forward

Best calf stretch (on a BOSU)

Stretching the calf muscle can help the ankle dorsiflex (so the shin comes over the foot)

Photo courtesy of Connie Aronson

Place a BOSU ball against a wall for balance. Stand on the center of the dome with one leg behind you. Push the heel of the back foot down into the BOSU, leg straight, posture erect. Hold for 20 seconds. Move the heel outward 10 degrees and hold the stretch for 20 seconds, then move the heel inward 10 degrees and hold the stretch for 20 seconds. Repeat on the other leg.

Connie Aronson is an exercise physiologist and corrective exercise specialist (TBBM-CES). Visit her at www.conniearonson.com and follow her on Instagram using @conniearon.

Vist link at https://www.mtexpress.com/wood_river_journal/features/get-flexible-with-the-trx-deep-squat/article_9f9abbe6-6018-11ef-a047-b3262712cfd7.html

Can you stand on one leg? Amazingly, it can affect longevity

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If your core is strong, you typically have good balance. Standing on one leg engages the core, and that ability is an indicator of overall well-being.

One-leg balancing involves using all 29 muscles of the core, called the lumbo-pelvic hip complex. But did you know that standing on one leg for 10 seconds can predict longevity? A recent study shows that the link between balance and longevity is an indicator of survival among middle-aged and older adults. Those that couldn’t do this simple task faced a higher mortality risk over seven years, emphasizing the critical role of balance for our health as we age.

Losing your balance as you get older is no joke. Research has shown that the ability to stand on one foot drastically decreases after the age of 60, along with a rapid increase of falls and injury. The ability to stand on one leg is imperative for gait and function.

Practicing the single-leg balance also improves your proprioception, or your body’s awareness of its position in space. Many daily movements involve being on one foot, even briefly, such as climbing stairs, putting pants on and stepping into a tub. Having better balance means daily activities that require coordination don’t have to result in falls or missteps.

You might think standing on one leg is a simple movement, but the ankles, lower leg, thighs, hips and core work together to make it happen. Try the following moves to test your skills!

Single-leg balance

Single leg balance
Photo by Connie Aronson
  • Stand tall with your shoulders retracted. Feet are parallel and pointing forward. Hands are on the hips.
  • Brace the core, and flex the hips and knees slightly.
  • Lift one foot off the floor, keeping the toe of the raised foot pointed upward (dorsiflexed) and shift the center of your weight over the foot on the ground.
  • Maintain the slightly squat position for 10 seconds.
  • Return to the start; repeat on the opposite leg.
  • Tip: Keep the chin pushed back, with the head tilted neither forward or backward.

There are countless exercises to train balance. The following variation targets the gluteals and is a total body movement.

Single-leg balance and reach

Efficient movement requires appropriate levels of stability (standing on one leg), while simultaneously having appropriate levels of mobility (extending your leg outward). During this move you have to engage the stabilizers for good postural control as you move your leg. Because it is multiplanar (dynamic planes of motion), it correlates to movements in sports and daily activities.

  • Begin in a three-quarter squat, single-leg position as described for single-leg balance.
  • Maintaining balance, reach forward with the up leg and tap the floor with that foot.
  • Return back to neutral position.
  • Maintaining balance, reach out laterally with the same foot as far as possible, without compromising form. Tap the floor.
  • Return back to the start position.
  • Lastly, open your hip and reach to the side and behind you. Tap the floor and return to the starting position.
  • Continue with the same leg for four repetitions.
  • Repeat on the opposite leg.

Single leg balance on an unstable surface ( BOSU )

*Tip-try to keep the flat side of the BOSU level. This means that your weight is distributed throughout your whole foot

https://www.mtexpress.com/wood_river_journal/features/can-you-stand-on-one-leg-amazingly-it-can-affect-longevity/article_e1ed9822-083b-11ef-a7f2-278d85a49540.html

Do it right: How to stretch the external rotators of the hip

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Hips move, as they are mobile joints just as your neck, shoulders and ankles are. All muscle helps us move and maintain our posture, especially the hip complex.

For many of us, we don’t stretch them enough and end up with tight hips, specifically the external rotators. If you do stretch regularly, you know that Pigeon Pose is an excellent hip and buttock stretch that can help you restore movement to these areas. But it can hurt sensitive knees, or be impeded by a current injury, as it requires the shinbone to be at a 45 degree angle beneath the front hipbone.

Hips need both good mobility and strength in every activity from walking to skiing. The main job of the external rotators of the hips is to stabilize the pelvis during the swing phase of walking. For example, when you step out on your right foot, as you transfer the weight into that foot, there is a moment in which you are standing on one leg.

As your foot and leg absorb your body weight, the hip internally rotates as you step. At the same time, the external rotators of the right hip tighten to keep the pelvis level to the ground as you swing your left foot through to step on it. This action slows down the knee as it moves toward the midline of the body, so your knees don’t collapse inward.

Good hip mobility and strength allow you to have better biomechanics from the hip down to the foot. Tight or weak hips affect not only a normal gait, but every activity that you enjoy doing.

Pigeon Pose

When your hips are too tight, you may feel crooked, sore, or admit to yourself that you really need to do some yoga. When your hips aren’t tight—particularly the posterior muscles of the rear—walking, getting out of the car, climbing stairs, or skiing can feel effortless.

Here are two variations to Pigeon Pose that you might like to add to your daily stretching routine.

1. Figure 4 stretch using the wall

Figure 4 is an excellent stretch for the external and internal hip rotators, including the piriformis and glutes.

Tip: The piriformis is one of the six external rotators of the hip. (The sciatic nerve runs over, under or through the piriformis muscle and can be responsible for sciatica pain.)

Lie on the floor, place your left foot on a wall, and place your right ankle over your left knee.

Let the right side of your pelvis drop away from your right shoulder until your pelvis becomes level.

Hold the stretch to release your hip rotators.

Stretch each side for 20-30 seconds, at least once a day.

2. Figure 4 stretch using a physio ball

  • all photos by Connie Aronson

Instructions are the same as the above stretch, ( stretch 1 ) except that you place one foot on a physio ball.

Using a physio ball allows you to create a deeper stretch by gently rolling the ball toward you with the foot that is placed on the ball.

As seen in The Idaho Mountain Express March 24, 2024

https://www.mtexpress.com/wood_river_journal/features/do-it-right-how-to-stretch-the-external-rotators-of-the-hip/article_96d925c4-dc97-11ee-9afc-cb569b10a505.html

Train like an athlete with the landmine single-leg deadlift

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You know you could always use a little extra strength. Strong legs, in particular, will help you excel in activities such as running, hiking, tennis and skiing.

More importantly, strength is a key component to avoiding injuries. If you are looking to up your game and need a leg and core strengthener, try the landmine single-leg Romanian deadlift. Don’t be intimidated by the name!

If we break it down, the base move—a deadlift—is a bend-and-lift movement. It’s simply picking up a stationary weight off the floor, with no momentum. The landmine single-leg Romanian deadlift will target your posterior chain; the hamstrings, gluteal muscles and the core. It’s a unilateral movement that builds stability, strength and power throughout the posterior chain. Performing it provides you a unique training effect because you combine elements of a free-weight and machine-based exercise. Furthermore, this particular lift will really activate the muscles located through the core to maintain proper form throughout the full range of motion.

Landmine deadlift is a type of deadlift that features a barbell placed in a Landmine attachment. This particular attachment safely anchors the barbell to the floor. If you don’t have access to one, simply wedge the barbell in the corner of two walls.

The biomechanics of so many sports involve the power and strength of one leg, (running, soccer and football) so developing unilateral strength is important. In reality, most time in daily life is spent on one leg or the other, with minimal time on both legs. Any time you perform a single leg exercise, the inherent instability is a wonderful training stimuli. A good coach or trainer uses varieties like this landmine squat not only to prevent staleness or overtraining in a program, but to encourage proper form. Train like an athlete, with proper alignment and stability of the spine in the deadlift and any other exercise you choose.

Starting position

Start in an upright position while holding the bar close to your body. Hold the hand opposite your planted foot at hip level.

Maintain a slight bend in the knee, and push through the heel of the standing foot.

Keep your shoulders relaxed, head and eyes up (or in line with your spine), and core engaged.

Lower the bar by flexing at your hips, as one leg lifts back up off the floor.

Tip: Focus on moving the rear leg and torso as one unit, maintaining postural control.

Return to the starting position

Once you reach the bottom of the move, quickly contract the glutes and hamstrings to drive the non-weight-bearing leg back to your starting position.

For newbies:

Start by practicing a traditional Romanian deadlift using a free weight. Make sure the hip doesn’t “open up” as the bar gets closer to the floor. 

https://www.mtexpress.com/wood_river_journal/features/train-like-an-athlete-with-the-landmine-single-leg-deadlift/article_166d1696-8f14-11ee-882e-53a650385d63.html

Think twice about skipping the gym

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For muscles to grow and change, the stimulus must be great enough to allow the muscles to grow back stronger than before. Muscle growth happens whenever the rate of protein synthesis is greater than the rate of muscle protein breakdown. Resistance training can profoundly stimulate muscle cell hypertrophy and, as a result, gain strength.

Just a single bout of exercise stimulates protein synthesis within 2-4 hours after a workout and may remain elevated for up to 24 hours.

There’s no exact measurement as to how much muscle you can build in a month, but it’s typically between one-half to two pounds of muscle. Overall, the timeframe generally takes several weeks or months to be apparent. Greater changes in muscle mass will happen in individuals with more muscle mass at the start of a come back. Other variables, such as volume, training intensity, genetic factors, rest, hormone levels and diet, all affect muscle gain outcomes.

Commonly our muscle mass and strength increases steadily and reaches its peak at around 30-35 years of age. After age 40, men lose as much as 3-5 percent of their muscle mass per decade. And, unfortunately, studies from the Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging found that muscle power declines faster after age 65 for women, and 70 for men. We really can’t “stop the clock.” So, it’s important that we push our muscles as we age. Dr. Len Kravitz, program coordinator of exercise science at the University of New Mexico, happily shares that the ravages of time on muscles have been shown to be restrained or even reversed with regular resistance training.

Of course, life and unwanted stuff happens, and it’s quite all right to take two or three weeks off. Sometimes you just need rest and recovery. Yes, your ability to generate force in the muscles does take a hit. You might notice that the 10 body-weight squats you once did with ease now have you huffing and puffing. Thanks partly to muscle memory, you can get back lost muscle quicker than you thought, reverse muscle loss, and continue to progress.

https://www.mtexpress.com/wood_river_journal/features/fitness-guru-think-twice-about-skipping-the-gym/article_baa3bce2-79c5-11ee-9c1f-6b985a4275e7.html

Learn Hip Airplane for strong hips and stability

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If you’re trying to get the most out of your leg program, you might want to try an exercise called Hip Airplane. I know a lot of us use squats and lunges to stay strong for strength in the sports we enjoy. With ski season right around the corner, you’ll need good hip function. Good hip function keeps you symmetrical on skis, or in a squat, minimizes any hip shifting, and helps mobility. The Airplane is an exercise that targets the posterior hip muscles, the Gluteus Medius and Maximus. Strengthening these muscles is important, as your glutes are key lateral stabilizing muscles of the hip and legs, including the hamstrings.

Along with teaching you good pelvic control, which can eliminate back pain, or excessive motion in your back (not good) the Airplane also targets six muscles in the deep gluteal region known as external rotators of the hip joint. Yes, squats and lunges are fundamental strengthening exercises. Your glutes have to work hard when you lift yourself out of the bottom of a squat. But squats are typically performed in a one plane of motion-up and down. Very few exercises work on the rotational aspect of a move. The Airplane does just that: it helps improve your mobility, especially if you are tighter on one side. For skiers who feel like they are tighter turning one way than the other, this can be a helpful pre-season exercise.

Airplane is also a terrific neuromotor exercise. Performing it throughout the season can improve your motor skills, such as balance, coordination, agility, gait and proprioception. The advantage of practicing most single leg exercise is that any neuromotor exercise helps solidify a connection between the nervous and muscular systems.

Hip Airplane:

To begin, ground one foot into the floor.

1. Place your hands on your hips. Ground one foot into the floor, hinge from your hips, and lift the opposite leg back.

Hinge from your hips, and lift the opposite leg back. Hold 5 seconds.

2. Open the hip about 2 inches, or as far as you can, squeezing the glute. Hold 5 seconds.


Tip- Steer the hip inward around the pelvis.

3. Drop the hip inward: you’ll feel a good stretch. Hold 5 seconds.4. Return to start.

Keep pressing into the stance foot, and fully extend your back leg, squeezing the gluteals.

5. To make it easier : Hold onto a bar or wall for support. You can also use your arms for balance.

https://www.mtexpress.com/wood_river_journal/features/fitness-guru-learn-hip-airplane-for-strong-hips-and-stability/article_420951ca-62f5-11ee-b984-5fd4ce48995e.html

 Improve your motor skills with crawling and bird dogs

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Watch children play outside on a lawn and you can be sure they are crawling, rolling or somersaulting. From the time we kick and crawl as infants, our motor skills continue to evolve, leading to higher physical activity over a life span. There’s a new trend in fitness programs that focuses on ground-based fundamental or “primal” movements, like crawling. Some of these programs, like Animal Flow, are exercises performed in the quadruped position, linked together in continuous sequences called flows.

If you enjoy yoga flow, Animal Flow is quite similar, though not necessary performed completely on the hands and feet, in a quadruped stance. The later promotes reconnecting with your body’s natural movement abilities, or “primitive movement patterns,” ones of our four-egged friends, to improve function of the “human animal.” Studies show that an eight-week, twice-per-week Animal Flow program, in addition to regular exercise, increased trunk stability scores, range of motion and motor competence.

Crawling lights up your muscles

If we take away the 100-mile-an-hour lawn crawl that children love to show-off, the crawl itself is a body weight exercise that improves motor control mechanisms for better balance and coordination. Adam Eckhart, assistant professor at Kean University has studied how when we are upright, either walking or running, built in motor programs generated in the spinal cord play an important role in the rhythmic coupling of our arms and legs. When you step over an obstacle, he says, the central pattern generators adapt the timing and counterbalancing limb movements to adapt to changes in stability.

Studies show that patients with Parkinson’s disease have higher sensory signals in the arms when anticipating a step obstacle, concluding that a robust arm-leg coupling awareness is very helpful. Stroke patients conversely, rely on the same motor muscle activity in their arms to counterbalance difficulty lifting a leg over a step obstacle.

Compared to walking, hand-foot crawling lights all your muscles up, especially with added speed. Loads on the shoulders, triceps, quadriceps, hamstrings and calves change, depending on the whether the hips are high or low.

Four-point kneeling dogs

If animal flow feels too intimidating, another quadruped exercise called Bird Dog, (with variations) is an important go-to. Evidence shows that these simple but important exercises aid in balance and coordination when we’re upright, on two legs. Bird Dog, (also known as the quadruped limb lift) is one of the most important exercises used in low-back stabilization programs as it targets the back as well as the hip extensors. It also teaches the discipline of using proper hip and shoulder motion while maintaining a stable spine, says Stuart McGill.

Forward crawling. Photos by Connie Aronson
Knees elevated with one arm lifted.
Knees elevated with one arm fully extended. Photo by Connie Aronson
Bird dog. Photo by Connie Aronson
Arms on foam pad, knee elevated, leg extended. Photo by Connie Aronson

Bird Dog starts in a four-point kneeling position, with a contralateral arm and leg lift. The act of raising opposing limbs changes the types of stress on the body and impels the body in the redistribution of forces in an unfamiliar way, forcing the body to adapt. By alternating the base of support, such as using an unstable upper body support, like a foam pad, research shows that you’ll improve total body joint stability, joint proprioception, and range of motion.

The goal of any fitness program is to train your body for the sports and activities you enjoy and to prevent injury. Overall, quadruped movements are simple, fun, and important fundamental movement patterns.

https://www.mtexpress.com/wood_river_journal/features/fitness-guru-improve-your-motor-skills-with-crawling-and-bird-dogs/article_203fff00-3701-11ee-b736-4f7a28cdca1b.html

The power of problem solving

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Can you think of a time when your problems seemed insurmountable? In a world where our happiness is so crucial to our overall well-being, behavioral tools can be helpful. If you’re struggling with goals like eating better, sleeping or exercising more or reducing stress, how do you even start? How do you shrink your problems and jump through the hurdles that have been holding you back ?

Experts say that there are two key ways to take the first steps to create change to kick-start your goals.

Shrink the problem

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The problem for some is that a plan of attack for fat loss might be a declaration of, for instance, to eat less, stop eating sugar, or eat clean.

This is a principle, a big word for the framework for our actions. All of our daily decisions, like helping a neighbor or spoiling our children and pets to no end, are principles we live by. When it comes to our overall health, like the goal of fat loss, we know that our lifestyle habits and behavior is determined by what we do, rather than a principle. In other words, you need an action. Eat less desert after dinner, or, set the alarm for 6:30 in order to brisk walk for 45 minutes. By eliminating a principle, such as eat clean, in which you may have no idea how to fit in, in the real world, you’ve relinquished any guilt you might have at blowing your promise over birthday cake, by taking an action, eat less desert after dinner.

When, already?

When you’re struggling, yet desire to make a health change, experts suggest a temporal landmark. Temporal landmarks are big words for any distinct events that stands out from everyday stuff. The landmarks are a social timetable, like the first of the month, a 50th birthday, or wedding. It has been found, too, that a temporal landmark like a Monday, for example, can help you start or restart a new gym habit. This initiation opportunity promotes a focus on the big picture. Behavioral science shows that by psychologically separating you from your past failures, a temporal landmark, like going to the gym on Monday, promotes a clean slate. You’ll become more motivated to think about long term goals and their importance, and your new found priorities, however busy you may be. Here’s to a summer of health, armed with a new behavioral toolkit.

https://www.mtexpress.com/wood_river_journal/features/fitness-guru-the-power-of-problem-solving/article_9c739ee2-2103-11ee-977b-4f38d6aa1999.html