Is it just me, or does it seem like this past December was a resounding kick to the stomach and we are only now starting to stumble up? The Flu? Possibly. The economy? Could be. Maybe it is just me but everyone seems a little tweaked, and not just in the Oh-my-God-Oh-thank-God-Apocalypse-Deliverance-Good-Cop-Bad-Cop reactions to the Massachusetts election. In the small sphere of the studio, things are off: Rippy Cutty boy shows up looking like a deer in the headlights instead of the noble morning warrior; the Boot Camp seems to have overdosed on Xanax; and with nerves frayed, many seem to be edging for a fight of one kind or another, even if they are not quite sure of the topic.

Did we all quit sugar and caffeine at the same time? Was that the group resolution and I just missed the memo?

No, it’s more than that. Folks are freaked. No one is quite sure where we’re headed, there is very little faith in “the system”, and many want to simply stay huddled up in the cave until the storm passes. Perfectly understandable, I say. Understandable, sure, but impossible to do. We have to get up, get out, go to work, the whole nine yards.

And I see all of this anxiety and stress wear away at all these people. And what’s the first thing to go out the window? Health and well-being. You’re not quitting the sugar and caffeine. You’re OD’ing on them. You are tanked and you are reaching for that muffin or that extra cup of coffee (or three). At the brand new DUMBO candy store, Tootsie Rolls are flying off the shelves. Anything for that little burst of energy.

But that just creates a vicious cycle that brings us further and further down. More sugar, more caffeine, more stress at work, less sleep, less peace, more tired, more sugar……..you get the idea.

So how on earth are you going to break this cycle?!? I know, I know!……it’s out of your control, it’s tough at work, you can’t get it all done, there’s too much stuff, too little time, aaaaaaaaaaaaah!!!!!……………

Wrong.

Here are three simple ideas, not the be-all-end-all, but certainly a good start:

1. Start to cut back on the amount of sugar and caffeine you consume. It’s tough but it’s an addiction like any drug, and this drug is bringing you down, baby. If you want the coffee and sugar, have it but then back off after lunch. You’ll probably have to take a nap on your desk, but that’s better than getting a poor night’s sleep.

2. Schedule one 5-minute period at one point in the day when you can simply breathe and relax. Five minutes is all it will take to allow your system to reload. And once you calm yourself down, it’s like a second wind. You’ll find you have more focus and energy and can accomplish more than you could a few minutes before. Not sure about this one? Try this 5-minute Relaxation podcast. Or just set a timer, close your eyes and breathe.

3. Be present. So much going on, so many responsibilities. It is very easy to get perpetually distracted. Have you been in a conversation with someone recently and noticed that you have no idea what they said for the last few minutes? Take some time for yourself and practice being present. Be aware of where you are and that that is all that is important for the moment. Nothing is going to change, nothing is going to destruct. Just enjoy that moment and be present for yourself. You will find that, as an exercise, it is very refreshing. And, as a practice, it will give you a brand new source of energy and power. And couldn’t we all use a little bit of that?

If all else fails, take a moment and watch the video:

The Fitness Guru

www.fitnessgurunyc.com

YEA! HAPPY NEW YEAR!! WHOOO-HOOOOOO!!……YES!!!…… FIRST DAY!! NEW YEAR!!…. NEW DECADE!!!………YEA!!!!…… HAPPY….. NEW….. year……whoooo……hooo…. yes….. ya……. hmmm…..

With any luck, you are waking up this morning (or this afternoon) without a hangover. Food. Food will be on the list of things to do. And some stores and some restaurants may be open. But it is a holiday, so you can’t be sure. By Sunday, you’ll be a little discombobulated because it’s the second long weekend in a row and now all your internal clocks are way off. Monday: gather ’round the water cooler with all the NYE war stories and comments about “amateur night” (note: as my friend, Tom, was the only person I know who went to bed at 11:30 last night, he is, by default, the only “professional”). Within two weeks, you will have stopped screwing up every time you have to write the date on something. In four weeks, any reference to the New Year or New Decade will have gone the way of Tiger Woods jokes. And within six weeks, 80-95% of you will have given up on your New Year’s Resolution.

That’s right. By Valentine’s Day, the National Hallmark  Day of Chocolate and Cards, only a few Resolutionaries will be left standing. The reasons are simple: we create goals for ourselves without creating an effective strategy for attaining those goals. Sure, it seems like everyone has a strategy to help you, but, for the most part, that strategy is “Happy New Year……now let’s change”. The desire to change isn’t a strategy. It has to be met with a thorough play-by-play so that you understand the ups and the downs of the process.

So here are the five things to keep in mind to help you succeed this year and every year with your resolution. Now, I am the Fitness Guru, so I am going to help specifically with fitness and health related goals. But this ideas can work just as effectively with all your resolutions, personal or professional.

1. Take smaller bites. Yes, your grandmother was right. You take too big a bite and you’re going to choke. You have 40 pounds to lose? Start with the first 10. What the hell– start with 5. If you focus solely on the 40, and the weight doesn’t come off fast enough, that will lead to frustration, dissolutionment, and closing the door on yet another year’s resolution. That leads us to……
2. Patience. My god, if I had a dime for every person who walked through my door and thought that they were going to get it done in two weeks, I would be retired to an island in the Pacific by now. You have to understand that your train has been traveling with a great deal of momentum in one direction. In order to slow  down and change direction, you will have to patiently redirect your path. And the more momentum you have in a particular direction, the more focus and time you will need to redirect yourself.
3. Do not change direction too quickly. Ok, follow me on this one: your driving a Ferrari at 110 miles per hour down the highway. You want to make a hard, 90-degree left turn. My suggestion: slow down or your going to crash. You haven’t exercised in 10 years? Why on Earth are you going to go to the gym for two hours at a stretch, 6 days a week starting the day after the heaviest eating/drinking period of the entire year. Start slow and methodically. Go to the gym for half an hour, stretch, do a little cardio, maybe try a class. See how your body feels, how it reacts to the stimuli. If you feel good, up the ante. If you are sore and tired, keep it easy for the first week or two as you ease into it. You have time (see suggestion #2).



4. Don’t spend a fortune. Health clubs love this time of year. They see the panic in your eyes and they thrive on it. They will get you to sign up for 18 months of direct withdrawal from your checking account, knowing full well that by Valentine’s Day you will have forgotten you had a membership. Buy a month’s membership. They’ll sell it to you (they just want your money, after all). Make sure the gym is for you, that it is effective and you enjoy it. Then make the big purchase in February. Same goes for meal plans, exercise equipment, shoes, clothes, gizmos, late night infomercial products– the whole enchilada. The industry loves January because everyone throws their money at problems. Don’t be one of those people. But……
5. If you do spend money, spend it and spend it wisely. Spending money on your health and well-being is the wisest investment you can make. But, like financial investing, you want to be sure you are putting your money into an investment that will reap dividends. I am a trainer and I believe that an educated trainer is the Resolutionary’s best friend. Exercise is a science, not a crap shoot. I have yet to meet someone who couldn’t achieve their goals with the proper information and persistence. The problem is that the information is usually faulty. So Buyer Beware! Go about finding a New Year’s trainer the same way you would shop the rest of the year: get referrals from friends, interview the trainers, ask questions, find out specifically what they would do to help you, not simply someone who walks through the door to be “trained”. And keep in mind that most quality trainers have full schedules. You will need a little flexibility to find time in their schedules. If a health club is quick to offer you their “top trainer” who happens to be free five days a week during peak hours, take a good, long look at that person, their education, their work experience and their success rate.

This isn’t the end. This is the beginning. I wish there were only five things to keep in mind. This would be so simple if that were the case. But if it were that simple, the success rate would be higher than 10%. And it isn’t.

So buckle up and stay tuned. Let’s make this the best year ever! Whoooo-Hooooo!! Happy New Year!! Yea!!!!

It’s the calm before the storm. Do you feel it? That quiet expanse between Christmas and New Year’s. Friday? Very exciting! All sorts of new things happening with the Guru to celebrate the New Year– wonderful things that are going to help get all of us in the best shapes of our lives!

In the meantime, go out and have a very happy and healthy New Year. Take a few minutes to reflect on all the good things that happened for you in the past 365 days. And contemplate where you want to be 365 days from now.

This is not a New Year’s video. I love Cirque de Soleil and thought I would share one of my favorite pieces of theirs. Of course, it’s tough to capture the experience on video but it is amazing nonetheless.

Thank you all for being part of the Guru community for the past year. It has been a fantastic time and we are all looking forward to 2010!

We are closing in on the last of the holidays for this season……New Year’s!! Then comes the time of The Resolution! Have you thought about yours?

No dates present

It’s almost 2010, and for a lot of people that means New Year’s Resolution! And, though we try and be high-minded about it (“this year I will strive for Green Living and world peace…..though not necessarily in that order…”), most of our Resolution tend to focus on changing our health, well-being and fitness. Consequently, the gym industry makes a killing in January. And most of us end up frustrated that we have been unable to achieve the goals we set for ourselves.

So we have a plan– The First Annual Fitness Guru Makeover.

We will take one lucky person (though, who knows, maybe others) and we will help them hit the ground running in 2010– personal training, Pilates, yoga, fitness classes, weight training, nutrition– anything and everything that will help this lucky person achieve the goals that he or she sets for him/herself– all for FREE! The catch (there has to be a catch, right?): the whole process is going to be captured on film and video so that all the members of the Guru community can take part in the transformation, learn from it and become inspired by it. This way, we will all be working toward making 2010 the most successful Resolution year ever!! EVER!!!!

Still interested? Here’s what you need to do: first, read over the Rules and Regulations; next, write 150 words on why you feel you should be the winner of the Makeover. Try to be specific but not too long-winded, because, honestly, in an age of Twitter, do any of us have the ability to focus for more than 150 words? Finally, email your entry to makeover@fitnessgurunyc.com. That’s all ya have to do!

The deadline is December 30 at midnight and the winner will be announced on January 5th, 2010.

You may only enter for yourself and you may only enter once, so if you have a friend or loved one whom you think might like this, pass along the info and get them to write a little something.

Spread the word!

And Happy Holidays!!!

Imagine, if you will, that it is one month from now. It is the first week of January, 2010. This is the week that New Year’s resolutions are out in full force. And for many, many, many people, The NYR means one thing– weight loss. “Oh! I am going to go exercise and lose that weight that I have been meaning to lose for the last blah blah blah.” The health clubs go nuts because we go wandering in to their membership offices with the very best of intentions and sign up for a guaranteed monthly withdrawl from our checking accounts. And for six weeks, we try sooooooo hard to do the right thing, always not quite certain if what are doing is really the right thing– but, hell, we’re doing something and that must be good, right? And then, after six weeks, Valentine’s Day rolls around, candy is placed all around us and any resolution that we had such a short time ago is completely forgotten about– except, of course, for that monthly withdrawl by the health club, which continues on for at least another 11 months.

I see it every year. Sometimes it is the exact same players year in and year out. And it is so frustrating: January comes around and we realize that we are in exactly the same position with regard to our own health as we were the year before. One of the big problems preventing us from succeeding is what I call The Festive Fifteen. Sure, there are six weeks at the beginning of the new year when we have the very best of intentions. But the last six weeks of the year are filled with the very worst behavior. From Thanksgiving through New Year’s, Pumpkin Pie through Champagne, we have six weeks of parties and celebrations and parties and food and drink and celebrations, on and on and on.

Now, granted, with the current state of the economy, the chances of huge office parties celebrating another great year are less likely. But taking their places will be stress-related eating, drinking, more eating, and then probably more drinking. The desire to cut loose this time of year is still very great. And that leads to The Festive Fifteen– not literally 15 pounds like the Freshman Fifteen, but extra weight and calories that we are consuming throughout the six week period. So when it comes time to fulfill our Resolutions, we are already far behind the eight ball. All the calories, the partying, the stress and the sugar over-tax our systems and it is very hard to dig out.

So here are some ideas to keep the celebration running high without necessarily burying yourself for the New Year:

1. Keep a food journal. Sure, some would find this extreme and perhaps a little controlling, but by writing down what you eat on a regular basis, you are far less likely to over-consume.
2. Don’t stand next to the food. Sometimes you’ll find yourself camped out next to the food table at the office party. Make a small plate for yourself and move quickly to the other side of the room. Turn your back if you have to. Absolutely no grazing.
3. Eat something before the party. You don’t have to be full when you attend, but if you have a small snack, you will be less inclined to keep eating when you go out.
4. Water, water and peppermint gum. Ice cold water is terrific for quelling the appetite and it is also a great alternative to that extra glass of white wine. And peppermint is also a fantastic appetite suppressant– a couple sticks of gum and you will feel less hungry and your breath will smell wintery terrific.
5. Work out. Sounds easy enough, but it will probably take a little extra strategizing to figure out how to work exercise into your life this month. Make the time and reap the dividends.

So go out and have a fantastic holiday season! You deserve it! But do some great stuff for yourself so you can get that head start and make this year’s Resolution the most successful ever!

Check in on this Sunday’s Town Meeting. The topic: Success and the New Year’s Resolution. If you only come to one Town Meeting this year, this is the one.

Wine will be served, as always.

There are a couple of crazy things that happen to me when I have the opportunity to travel around the country. Sure, I meet all sorts of people, but that’s not so crazy. Everyone seems to be very much on the same page this time of year. The holidays have ended, the ball has dropped and its time to get back into the swing of things. Everyone is in the middle of his or her Resolution or they are sitting back and joking about all the others who are Resolved. No, that’s not crazy. That is an annual rite of New Year’s. No, the crazy thing when I travel is that I have the opportunity to watch Oprah. See, when I am home, I have business to conduct, but once I get on the road, the day becomes sort of timeless, without a “work time” and “home time”. So TV mid-afternoon works……sort of.

So when I arrived at my hotel yesterday I flipped on the TV just to get a little noise going in an otherwise somewhat uncomfortable little room. And who should be on the telly but Oprah. My relationship with Oprah is somewhat distant: I may not always agree with what she has to say, but I will defend to the death her right to say it. And the number of people that she has been able to help over the past two decades more than impresses me. She has created a fantastic amount of change.

But there she is, in full Oprah soft focus, with little (or, dare I say, no) make up, and she is talking about herself. She is talking completely in the first person about the fact that she has gained 40 pounds and she is miserable. There is nothing uplifting about what she is saying—she is speaking from the pit of despair. And her trainer, Bob, comes on and talks about how, as he was working with her, he saw the life drain from her eyes because she was depressed.

We all know about Oprah’s Battle of the Bulge. She has been up and down and the press is more than willing to keep a running commentary on exactly how large she is at any given time. And she has had a number of victories. I think she succeeded in running the Chicago Marathon a number of years ago. But here is sad Oprah talking about how life has gotten away from her, how she stopped making time for herself, how she kept thinking that she would be able to get back on track until one day the track was so far back in the rearview mirror there was no going back. And that’s when she went to pieces.

Happier times. We didn't know how good we had it.

So here I am in this Milwaukee pre-war hotel room that seems to have been decorated by yodelers, feeling bad for Oprah. Because what she is going through is the same painful trap that a lot of people go through and it is frustrating and depressing. Its particularly depressing if you have already climbed to the top of the mountain top once only to find that you have rolled all the way back down to the bottom.

The fact of the matter is that all these habits—the weight gain, the poor exercise habits, the inability to create time for oneself—are all repetitions that we can fall into over and over and over again. When we are prone to that sort of behavior, we have got to watch ourselves, and always watch ourselves. My friends who are recovered alcoholics don’t say, “hey, it’s been six months without a drink so I can go back to having the occasional beer.” That doesn’t happen. They understand that it is in their nature to fall back into their old habits. It is part of the disease of alcoholism. When we have weight and health issues (and, yes, I count myself as one of those people. Don’t believe me? I would show you the pictures but I burned them) we have to keep those issues in mind and understand that we are building entirely new lifestyles for ourselves—new habits to replace the old because those old habits were not working.

So going forth and conquering the health, fitness and weight loss resolution is fantastic. But as you continue to move forward, find ways of cementing new habits in place. Find that community or the structure that you can use for support. AND USE IT!

Oprah rebuilt her schedule and her life, with the help of her phalanx of assistants so that she has more time for herself and she doesn’t run herself ragged. But hopefully she realizes that those pitfalls will always exist for her.

So here’s to Oprah—if I only get to see one episode a year, I guess I’m glad it was that one.

Didja know that if you Google “diet” you get 22.8 million different answers? This time of year, I feel there at least that many magazines on newsstands, all with the same bold headline—if you take part in this one Hollywood-glitzy-megastar- supermodel-fantastic-and-oh-so-practical diet, you are GUARANTEED to lose the weight you want to lose in a matter of DAYS!! It’s perfect time of year for all of this press. Everyone wants to lose a few pounds, and wouldn’t it be great if it were painless and simple?

Didja know that the word “diet” has its roots in the Greek word meaning “to lead one’s life?” But somewhere along the way (and I think it was with the advent of all the glossy magazines) the word diet has taken on a new meaning: a diet is that strange way that you eat for a brief period of time so that you can lose the extra weight that you have gained because of the way you normally eat.

I hate the word “diet.” Hate it. There are other words I hate more, but not many. Some clever writers say, “’diet’ is a four letter word.” Yeah, maybe, but there are other four letter words that I will let my two daughters use before I let them use “diet.” I think that diets set people up for frustration and failure. It instills a belief that health is based on losing 12 pounds in 12 days and that is a big problem from a health point of view. The first big problem is that once those 12 pounds disappear and you go back to your old habits, it is only a matter of time that the 12 pounds will return, and, more times than not, their going to be bringing some friends. The second issue is that the word divides life into two different periods—the time that we are on a diet and the time when we are not. And all the time when we are not on our “diet”, our habits are probably not all that great.

But you know that you have been up to no good for at least the last month or two, if not the last year or two, and its time to make some changes, feel better and possibly lose some pounds. Here are the two things you are going to do to start the year off right:

• Make one healthy choice per meal. If they say, “fries or salad?”, you say “salad.” If they say, “and to drink?” you say, “water, thank you.” You know the healthier choices. Fried or steamed? Apple or donut? Right. You get the picture. Make one healthy choice per meal. Before you know it, you can start making two or three, and then, ha ha ha, you will be eating healthier.
• Cut down on your portions. We eat far too much and all those extra calories lead to extra pounds. I switched to eating off of salad plates. The dinner plates that we use these days are huge compared to several decades ago. Consequently, we are huge compared to several decades ago. Use a smaller plate. Fill the plate once. Eat. Clean the plate. Meal is over. Done.

That is not it when it comes to food. But it is a really good place to start. And save the money and skip the glossy magazines.

Michael

Welcome to 2009 and welcome to the First Annual Fitness Guru Webolution!  Our brand new site is going to be dedicated to helping you achieve your New Year’s Resolution by offering workout ideas, tips, recipes, pod casts and video demonstrations. Each day for the next month we will be offering new information to keep you motivated and involved in attaining your goal. More than that, we are working to bring the tremendous spirit that thrives in our Studio to the Internet. We are expanding our Guru Community into the Web so that, if you should happen to stumble, you will have a place to turn to in order to get back on track. And if you are getting bored or lost, you have a place to turn for inspiration and answers.

A couple of things about our new site: right now, I sort of feel like David Byrne at the beginning of Stop Making Sense (for those unsure of the reference, see below for a visual aid.) I am standing on an empty stage with nothing but an acoustic guitar and a boom box. Slowly, the band grows around me, the music gets bigger, until finally, I am surrounded by a couple dozen musicians and I’m wearing a suit five times bigger than normal and the house is rocking like nobody’s business. OK, so maybe Psycho Killer is not the best theme to get this particular health and well-being party started……..

…..but you get the idea.

As you explore the new site, you will see the foundation of what we have built. All our studio information is on the left hand side of the page, and all our web info is on the right. You can easily ask any questions you like using the Ask The Guru feature, and we can get an answer back to you very quickly. We will be offering both video and audio segments on the pod cast page. And you can keep up with all things Guru on the events page.

If you’re new to the Guru, here is how we work: we never preach from the mountaintop; we are down in the trenches. There is a tremendous amount of health and fitness information out there and many people are willing to try to force that info down your throats, especially this time of year. We are here to help explain all that gobbledygook, and to help you find he path that’s right for you. “8 Minute Brazilian Funkilicous Abs” may not be the best choice for you, but it may work perfectly well for someone else. Think of it this way: in fitness, all roads lead to Rome. The Fitness Guru is your Mapquest. So take advantage of the opportunity. If there is a question plaguing you, be it about cardio-vascular work, weight loss, snacking on the go, post-exercise stretching, whatever, go ahead and ask. I guarantee you that there are probably dozens of people who have the same question, so by asking, you are helping the entire community.

Now let’s discuss the Resolutions. It’s the first of the year. Let’s keep it simple. Your goal for today is to clarify your Resolution for yourself. The clearer you can be, the easier it will be to stay true to your commitment. Here are some quick tips:

• Don’t overstep reality! If you are used to waking up at 10 am every morning and quietly reading the paper with a cup of coffee, then resolving to wake up at sunrise and run 10 miles probably is not the quick road to success. Try to find a path that works with your schedule and your lifestyle.
• Many of us make a resolution to lose weight. This can be a tough one psychologically. We don’t have all that much direct control over our weight. We do have control of various factors that contribute to weight gain. So if I say, “I want to lose 15 pounds”, my focus will be on the needle on the scale and whether or not I can get the damn thing to move, even a little. If that needle doesn’t move, or even if it does move but moves VERY slowly, that can be discouraging, especially if I am putting all this resolve into dropping pounds. And then, if I do lose the weight, the focus becomes “can I keep it off?” It’s a very tough dance to maintain. HOWEVER, if I focus on eating healthier on a daily basis and becoming more active, my weight will start to shift as a natural part of that process. Keeping track of weight loss is a fine gauge of success, but it is only one of several that we will discuss in the next couple of days.
• Create small steps for success. You can’t lose fifteen pounds without losing one first, and you can’t “eat healthy” without going meal-by-meal making better choices. Let’s face it: we spent December in a feeding frenzy and now we see this big mountain of HEALTH in front of us. It can be a little overwhelming. So start small: if you haven’t exercised since fourth grade gym class, don’t start by locking yourself on an elliptical machine for two hours at a time. You will burn out very quickly and you’ll be visiting Godiva.com by January 17^th. Take things day by day and seek out attainable goals that fall within your resolution. “I’m going to have a healthy breakfast” is attainable. “I’m going to go for a 20 minute walk during my lunch break” is attainable. And all these things will lead you to your goal.
• Take advantage of the community around you. Some of us believe that a resolution is like a dirty little secret. We don’t want to let anyone in on it in the event we seem weaker or in the event, God forbid, we should stumble and fall. But our Resolutions are just the opposite: they are commitments that we make to ourselves to improve the quality of our lives. And, right now, everyone around you is trying to make that commitment in ways both big and small. Reach out to your friends, family and the Guru community for support, understanding and inspiration.

That’s enough for now. If you have friends who are about to battle the Resolution, invite them into the community. There is room for all. This is a very electric time and we at the Guru are very excited about what is to come. Thanks for joining us.  It’s going to be a fantastic ride.

Rock on!

Michael