1.  GET SUPPORT! 

Do it with a friend or neighbor. 

Have a heart-to-heart with your significant other or

other support person about your needs and make a new commitment

to finding a workable fitness plan.

2. SCHEDULE EXERCISE — MAKE IT A PRIORITY!

Treat it like any other appointment and don’t cancel at the drop of a

hat.  Exercise is important, but each individual exercise

session will never be urgent.  Therefore, unless you protect

and honor its spot on your schedule, it will never happen!

3.  SET GOALS!

What are they going to be? 

Write them down and then write your exercise plans into your

calendar right now!  (Pretty please?)  Do this each week, than go back and see if you followed your plan.

If you were too ambitious, revise your plans, but don’t give up.  You’ll be glad you did!

Try these 3 Tips to get motivated and get moving.   If you need more help, go to www.SkinnyJeansForever.com I want to help you you fit exercise into your life with

personal training, pilates classes, and easy to follow pilates DVDs and books.

1. Drink Water! Before giving in to a craving, sit down and drink a glass of water. Sometimes sweet cravings are a sign of dehydration.
2. Reduce or eliminate caffeine.  Caffeine has a tendency to de-stabilize our blood sugar, making cravings more frequent.
3. Eat sweet veggies and fruit: squash, yams, carrots, beets, berries, figs, apples. Sometimes we don’t really want sugar, just sweet sensation.
4. Experiment with spices. Cinnamon is a blood sugar stabilizer! Coriander, nutmeg, cloves, and cardamom will also lend sweet flavor to your foods.
5. Get physical activity. Exercise balances your blood sugar levels and reduces tension without medicating yourself with sugar.

Nancy Griffin instructs students during a recent class.

I’m sure you’ve felt the churning in your stomach, or sweat forming on your palms. We’ve all experienced stress from just missing being in a traffic accident—only now it’s not a car in our paths, it’s the state of the economy, fear of what the future holds for each of us and anxiety regarding our health.

Doing Pilates is a sure fire way to get 30-60 minutes of exercise to put you in a more relaxed state. Pilates will reduce anxiety and lower your blood pressure.

Those of you who exercise regularly, tend to watch your diets closer and make better choices (green leafy vegetables, fruits, whole grains and plenty of green tea—while avoiding fatty foods, sugar, caffeine and fast foods). I want you to succeed!

Matt Kluck, PGA pro, shows this golfer how to improve his swing.

If you haven’t read my story on Pilates for Golfer featured in the Post Gazette or seen the entertaining video of my class take a look now at www.SkinnyJeansForever.com. You can find both under the news and events section. Golf Pilates Class starts with a Bang! Our first class began with a Pilates Primer: Learning how to engage our core, maintain posture through our swing and increase flexibility one vertebrae at a time. Golfers did a warm up stretch followed by a fun, circuit of 8 golf specific exercises. PGA, Matt Kluck did a swing class outlining what makes a swing effective. He addressed the concerns of each golfer. We discussed keeping our club face square, knee and hip position into backswing, keeping arms close to the body at impact, ball position with regard to specific clubs, and maintaining spine angle while rotating. He gave each golfer practical solutions for their swing faults. Feel free to give me a call, if you would like to join us for the next 4 sessions through April 18th. If not, no worries, join us April 25th to get into the Swing! Register on-line at http://skinnyjeansforever.com/events.php#img1 and get your free copy of my new book Secrets to Better Golf.

Posture/Set-up Routine

One topic in golf that is continually overlooked, except by the best players in the world, is your address routine and how to consistently perform this routine because it ultimately influences the swing pattern you use to propel the ball to the target. This routine allows you more freedom for personal preferences and feel.

1. Hold the club parallel to the ground with the grip end aligned at belt buckle height.
2. Maintain the relationship described in step one and flex from the hip joints only until the club rests on the ground. This will promote consistency attaining the proper distance and ball position at address.
3. Bend your knees until your hip joints are ready to move. If you move your hip joints closer to the ball when you flex your knees, you have flexed too far!

Do this routine by the numbers and your address position will become more consistent.

Matt Kluck, PGA Master Professional

Do you have balance in your life?  We all need to balance work, play and a spiritual connection in our busy lives.   2009 began with a bang!  It has been a demanding, yet exciting time for me.  Any of you who are entrepreneurs, or work in the fitness business can attest to that.  It has been said that what we reap at the beginning of the year, is what we will sow throughout the rest of it.   Working can bring big rewards, but without down time spent with family and friends, we lose what keeps us sane:  laughing, loving and reflecting with those we love most. 

If you’re struggling this year, I want to encourage you to take some time out for yourself.  Maybe you need to call a relative or old friend you haven’t seen in a while for lunch.   Perhaps you need to make a date with your husband, or partner to re-connect and get to know each other again.   Maybe you’ve been thinking about joining a new church or taking up a hobby.  Join a group of individuals who you can connect with. 

Some of you may need to set aside time for your health.  Fitness gives us energy and vitality to get through the day.  Yes, I finally got that in.  Exercise, Pilates, in particular, coupled with strength training or doing upbeat circuit work can really reduce stress and create balance in your life.  If you want to have more fun, maybe joining a Pilates class, or taking time out to start a new activity, is just what you need to reduce stress and bring some balance into your life. 

Should you decide to try Pilates, you will find your ability to maintain your “balance” in all situations will improve.  Whether it’s re-gaining your balance when you stumble, or navigating a crowded grocery store.  There’s no better exercise than Pilates for creating symmetry and balance through out the body.  I hope you will take a look at your life and decide if you have balance in work, play and spirit.  

Feel free to share your secrets for maintaining balance in your life.

As my client left my home this morning she walked out with her hands over her head in a victory cheer, refreshed and alive from our light cardio warm-up, 10 upper and lower body exercises and 30 minutes of Pilates.

If you need a lift, try power walking on a regular basis. Even if it means multi-tasking. If you have several errands try to park your car in a shopping plaza/neighborhood where businesses are grouped fairly close together. Then run all of your errands (dry cleaning, grocery, post office and bank) without moving your car. Walk briskly and stop back at the car frequently to drop things off.