Ideally we want to get the most out of our workouts and fitness activities and occasionally we need to shake things loose to tap into a new energy vein. This will help to not only enliven current routines but set the path for new fitness achievements. While the New Year began with great intentions, predictably many of us have lapsed back into old patterns. Psychologically, these lapses created a return pattern of spotty exercise and perhaps overindulgence. Problematically the magical date of renewal came and went and we find ourselves not much further along. The solution…as it has always been…is to “Just Do It”! Try anything that increases your activity. Take a walk before or after dinner. Get a workout buddy where both parties agree to hold the other accountable and encourage each other to stick with it.

Try something new and don’t be afraid to change. If an activity or class is not doing it for you keep searching to find the best fit. Set easy-to-reach goals like the ‘one minute a day’ walk where every successive day you walk you add one minute. For example, day one is one minute of walking, day two is two minutes of walking and so on, so walking 20 days out of the month will equate to a 20 minute walk on the last day. Mix it up to suit your own needs. Easy! Now get moving!

We’re all aware of different exercise ‘personalities’. The ‘Regulars’ are those still committed and often very dependable in their approach to fitness. Often ‘Regulars’ find success by introducing diversity into their workout regimens. Finding the newness in a workout is challenging simply due to the fact that our normal workouts are already a part of our program. More of the same is still better than none at all but we may need to chart some new territory.

Here are some suggestions: Schedule a onetime session with a personal trainer. Simply getting a fresh set of eyeballs on your workout routine and technique can do wonders to shake things up a bit. Or try a new group exercise class like Indoor Cycling or even better one of the great Fitness. The trick with taking on any new fitness activity is accessibility, cost effectiveness, and most importantly – challenge! A new jolt to the routine is exactly what will do a body good and the “Regulars” are prime targets for a workout spruce up.

Another exercise personality are the “Fitness Freaks”. Seen in every gym and class the freaks just keep going and going, pushing the workout harder and harder. Sweat, exhaustion and never missing a workout are their most common traits. So what could possibly be the next step for this group? The answer …STOP! Just for a week, and no this will not undo all of your hard work or turn you into a big couch blob. The body actually gains strength, endurance and stamina during the recovery phase of exercise and the continuous stress of challenging workouts can actually do more harm than good if not balanced with proper recovery phases. The body has a chance to ‘catch up’, so to speak, and the challenge for the true fitness enthusiast is achieving balance, which sometimes means just not working out. This does not mean that all activity is stopped. General activity is encouraged like biking, walking and hiking, all of which can assist the body to retain strength and reach fitness gains. For example, if your workouts have included heavy ________el of intensity is highly beneficial in the overall fitness plan. Go ahead; it’s OK to rest a little!

No matter what type of exerciser you are, changing up the routine may just be the right next step. Take an honest inventory of where you fall on the exerciser continuum, and then set reachable goals for yourself. Next, plan a strategy that will take you there by turning what you do now upside down, getting after it and making it fun. The time for change is now!

This article and subsequent articles in theWellness series are due in large part to Bret Smith’s contributions. Bret holds Bachelor Degrees in Athletic Training and Health and Physical Education. He is a Certified Personal Trainer from the National Academy of Sports Medicine. Bret began his career in Health and Fitness as an Assistant Athletic Trainer in 1992 working with high school athletes and later as a Health and Physical Education Teacher for elementary school age children. Bret’s experience includes the design of Corporate FIT Challenges and Self-Defense Seminars. Bret is currently employed as Fitness Director at Coronado Island Fitness where he leads the personal training program, which includes designing and delivering fitness plans for all generations, ranging in age from 92 years old to 16 years old. Bret provides private sector Corporate Wellness Program consulting for CaVU Consulting Inc.

For questions about the contents of this article, please contact us at: info@cavuconsultinginc.com

- Dale Carnegie

Harold Clurman, a pioneer of NY theatre in the 1930s, shared with us the correlation between truth and entertainment: the truth is like castor oil—it’s bitter and hard to swallow; and so we open the mouths of our audience with entertainment, and while they’re open, we pour it in. As an artist-turned-owner of a creative company, I’ve built a business around combining professional thought with artistic delivery. In so doing, I’ve discovered that using creativity in business inspires the business, inspires the clients, and inspires the product or service being created.

Why do people respond to creativity with such fervor?

The answer is simple: creative expression puts us back in touch with our favorite version of ourselves.

Think about your favorite memory of who you are or have been. When did you feel most alive in your life? Was it when playing as a child? When you won the girl? When you got he job? When you won the race?

In our youth, we often feel such flashes of greatness through physical activity: being the fastest or the strongest, or being able to endure the hike, the mountain climb, the marathon. As we age, we turn inward and the challenges become related to purpose and to meaning.

Purpose…

Meaning…

Who has time for such things in a tough economy?

The reality is that so many of us are making time to ask ourselves, “Do I matter?” Perhaps we’ve been forced to become less materialistic. Perhaps it’s the changing global economy. Perhaps technology has made it so easy for us to connect with one another that we’ve been forced to now ask ourselves, “What about us is worth connecting with?”

And there it is.

In a world full of technological advances, where Apple’s iPhone business alone is now bigger than Microsoft’s entire business, we have been led down a path where connection is not only easy, but it is also instantaneous. And that has forced us into a paradigm shift.  By being so “connectable,” we are looking at the essence of who we are…of why anyone should care. The reality is that to connect, we have to be vulnerable, human, and real.

How does creativity help us to connect?

1. Because creativity requires honesty to be effective, it taps into our inner magic by forcing us to get to the core of what we believe.
2. When we share what we honestly believe through our work, we give people an opportunity to honestly react.
3. When we repeat that process over a period of years, we build a tribe of like minds.
4. When we are surrounded by our tribe who appreciate what we believe, we are forced to see what they are reflecting back to us. That new mirror image is powerful enough to generate new confidence to take more risks.
5. That willingness to take more risks and be more vulnerable through our work continues to fuel the growth of our tribe. Over time your tribe will turn into your “raving fans” and they will drive deeper connection all around you.

Why the term emotional innovation?

Innovation is an “outward” term. We apply skills to develop new products or systems and call it innovation. Emotional innovation is the turning of our talents inward toward self-articulation, toward personal growth. At the center of emotional innovation is personal artistry. Any one of us can be an artist in the work we do if we approach it creatively. That requires us to think of ourselves as artists, which in turn elevates our standards within our work.

Think of the people you know in your life who work what you might consider to be rather mundane jobs, and yet they LOVE what they do and exhibit admirable passion. The Starbucks barista who loves delivering you the perfect cup of coffee with a smile that sets your day off in a positive direction. The health insurance salesman who knows everything about health care reform and loves educating you about it so you can make informed decisions for your employees. The rare doctor who spends more than 3 minutes in the room with you and actually takes the time to help you feel like a human being.

When Zappos thought beyond shoe sales and realized that at a deeper, more artistic level, they were “Delivering Happiness,” their game changed, both internally and externally. And that decision was within their control. They grabbed that concept, promoted it, and lived by it, and it has made them successful beyond measure.

Have you taken the time to articulate and honor what you deliver?

Do you think of yourself as an artist with your work?

We all matter. Or should I say, we all have the opportunity to matter. When we think creatively, and put ourselves out there vulnerably, we give people an opportunity to have a genuine response. In the past, it’s been referred to as “authenticity,” but that concept was only the introduction to the conversation. Being authentic is a behavior, not an idea. And you get to the behavior through exercising your creativity and accessing your inner artist.

Winter fades and Spring looms … a great time to shake things up a bit! Remember just a few short weeks ago the anticipation of a new year … a new you?  Now is the time to Review, Revise and Re-Energize the focus and intent of our exercise commitments to help continue to realize the aspirations of our fitness plan. When we use the term “fitness plan” we stress the fact that this is all-encompassing, with three components: physical, nutritional, and spiritual.  Spiritually fit simply means our relationship with creating balance in our lives.

Are we:   Getting enough rest?  Taking time out for ‘you’? Do our physical activities help support our lifestyles?    Nutritionally fit simply means we have to address our relationship with food; making sure we are eating as well as possible, while also concentrating on how much and how often we eat. In this article we will focus on the physical component…

Ideally we want to get the most out of our workouts and fitness activities and occasionally we need to shake things loose to tap into a new energy vein. This will help to not only enliven current routines but set the path for new fitness achievements.   While the New Year began with great intentions, predictably many of us have lapsed back into old patterns. Psychologically, these lapses created a return pattern of spotty exercise and perhaps over- indulgence. Problematically the magical date of renewal came and went and we find ourselves not much further along. The solution…as it has always been…is to “Just Do It”!

Try anything that increases your activity. Take a walk before or after dinner. Get a workout buddy where both parties agree to hold the other accountable and encourage each other to stick with it. Try something new and don’t be afraid to change. If an activity or class is not doing it for you keep searching to find the best fit.  Set easy-to-reach goals like the ‘one minute a day’ walk where every successive day you walk you add one minute. For example, day one is one minute of walking, day two is two minutes of walking and so on, so walking 20 days out of the month will equate to a 20 minute walk on the last day. Mix it up to suit your own needs.  Easy! Now get moving!

We’re all aware of different exercise ‘personalities’.  The ‘Regulars’ are those still committed and often very dependable in their approach to fitness.  Often, ‘Regulars’ find success by introducing diversity into their workout regimens.   Finding the newness in a workout is challenging simply due to the fact that our normal workouts are already a part of our program.  More of the same is still better than none at all but we may need to chart some new territory. Here are some suggestions: Schedule a onetime session with a personal trainer. Simply getting a fresh set of eyeballs on your workout routine and technique can do wonders to shake things up a bit.  Or try a new group exercise class like Indoor Cycling or even better one of the great F.I.T. Classes such as those offered at Island Fitness. The trick with taking on any new fitness activity is accessibility, cost effectiveness, and most importantly – challenge!  A new jolt to the routine is exactly what will do a body good and the “Regulars” are prime targets for a workout spruce up.

Another exercise personality is the “Fitness Freaks”. Seen in every gym and class the freaks just keep going and going, pushing the workout harder and harder.  Sweat, exhaustion and never missing a workout are their most common traits. So what could possibly be the next step for this group? The answers … STOP! Just for a week, and no this will not undo all of your hard work or turn you into a big couch blob. The body actually gains strength,  endurance and stamina during the recovery phase of  exercise and the continuous stress of challenging  workouts can actually do more harm than good if not  balanced with proper recovery phases. The body has a chance to ‘catch up’, so to speak and the challenge for the true fitness enthusiasts achieving balance, which sometimes means just not working out. This does not mean that all activity is stopped. General activity is encouraged like biking, walking and hiking, all of which can assist the body to retain strength and reach fitness gains. For example, if your workouts have included heavy lifting or high intensity for the last 4-6 weeks, taking a week off from this level of intensity is highly beneficial in the overall fitness plan. Go ahead; it’s OK to rest a little!

No matter what type of exerciser you are, changing up the routine may just be the right next step. Take an honest inventory of where you fall on the exerciser continuum and then set reachable goals for yourself. Next, plan a strategy that will take you there by turning what you do now upside down, getting after it and making it fun. The time for change is now!

You know the old adage, when one door closes another door opens…

As you know, the outdoor area was closed by the City of Coronado, due to structural issues created over 10 years ago.

We are working feverishly to find a solution which will eliminate the existing inconvenience brought on by the closure.

Unfortunately, a solution may include the removal of the waterproof canopy entirely, but will allow for immediate use of the area.

The closure has created a loss of open space to conduct classes like FIT, QuikFIT, Men’s Fusion and Fab Femmes.

As a result we have had to make some needed changes in the month of February to de-conflict those classes.

Effective Wednesday, February 1^st those changes are as follows:

Regrettably we must CANCEL the 630am QuikFIT, due to a lack of attendance, however we invite all Island Fitness members to enjoy FIT at no extra charge in the am and pm in February!

Thank you for your continued support of Island Fitness …

God Bless You

NEW YORK, NY, December 13, 2011 — Island Fitness has been selected for the 2011 Best of Coronado Award in the Gymnasiums category by the U.S. Commerce Association (USCA).

The USCA “Best of Local Business” Award Program recognizes outstanding local businesses throughout the country. Each year, the USCA identifies companies that they believe have achieved exceptional marketing success in their local community and business category. These are local companies that enhance the positive image of small business through service to their customers and community.

Various sources of information were gathered and analyzed to choose the winners in each category. The 2011 USCA Award Program focuses on quality, not quantity. Winners are determined based on the information gathered both internally by the USCA and data provided by third parties.

And the winner is… Pat Jones! Pat won our grand prize of a single Annual membership!