Category Archives: mind-body

Dance Bright Workshop Series

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Category : dance , exercises , mind-body , movement , Pilates , Pilates , resistance training

By: Courtney Holcomb

Over the years I have worked with hundreds of dancers on both technique, choreography, and conditioning. I’ve said a lot of the same corrections over the years, seen a lot of the same injuries, and witnessed the gap in traditional dance training to teach the HOW TO of many corrections. The purpose of a dance class is to keep the class moving, which means there is not always time for teachers to break down body mechanics and explain the corrections they may be giving. That is why I’ve designed the Dance Bright Workshop Series.

Dance Bright is a workshop series that focuses on movement education and intelligent strength and conditioning specifically for dancers. The purpose of Dance Bright is to help dancers improve their body awareness, better understand their anatomy and alignment, and learn about proper muscle recruitment and release techniques.  These workshops dig deeper into specific concepts and corrections that come up often in dance classes, but that a dance class setting doesn’t always have time to fully explain or explore.  Dance Bright will help close the gap between what dancers are told they should be doing, and how they can do it.

Workshops combine an element of lecture, movement exploration, strengthening, and stretching. 

The series is designed for dancers ages 12-adult.

Join us for our first workshop in the Dance Bright series, “Understanding our Hips and Core”, Wednesday, August 21st, 1:15-3:30 PM, located at Waveforms Pilates, 210 S. Commercial Street, Neenah, WI.

This workshop explores pelvic placement/alignment, proper core function and use, strengthening strategies for our hip stabilizers, as well as release techniques for tightness in the hip area. Through a combination of lecture, movement exploration, strengthening, and stretching, students will leave with an understanding of how to align and stabilize their hips to support the dynamic movements required while dancing.

Cost of workshop is $59 and includes a pinky ball and Franklin air ball for dancers to take home with them to incorporate the exercises and stretching strategies they learn at the workshop.

The Dance Bright Workshop Series was designed by Courtney Anne Holcomb.  She is a professional dancer, choreographer, PMA®-Certified Pilates Trainer, and owner of Waveforms Pilates in Neenah, WI.  She received a BA in Dance, and brings over 15 years of dance and fitness instruction, 9+ years of Pilates training, and professional performance credentials.  She’s worked with dancers ages 2.5-adult to help improve their technique, alignment, confidence, and expression through movement.

To join our specific mailing list for Dance Bright follow this link.

Specialty Monthly Offerings at Waveforms Pilates

Category : fitness , mind-body , movement , Pilates , workout

Did you know that besides offering customized one-on-one training and small group mat classes we have other monthly offerings?  We wanted to share more with you about what each our our specialty classes are about, and some other ways you can train at Waveforms Pilates.

Formerly known as our Cardio-Infused Pilates Mat class, join us monthly for Amped Up! Pilates Mat:

This high-energy class is rooted in the Pilates mat work, but moves through the repertoire at a faster-pace designed to elevate the heart rate and increase cardiovascular health.  By working through a high number of repetitions of each exercise, the yield is an increase in overall muscle strength and endurance.  Cardio-bursts are added in throughout along with H.I.I.T. style circuits and lively music to keep you focused and energized.  All movements are low-to-no impact and variations are offered throughout the class to accommodate all levels.  This class occurs on the second Tuesday of each month at 7:00 PM.  Get ready to sweat, connect, and get Amped Up!

Our second monthly offering is our Unwind Series:

The Unwind Series is designed to combat chronic tension in the body through spiraling, twisting, and rolling while executing dynamic and active stretches often found within the Pilates repertoire.  Occurring once a month, each class has a different focus and uses various small equipment or props to help guide the body into more awareness and relaxation. There are six workshops in the series: Unwinding Mat, Invigorate Your Breath, Free Your Hips, Unlock Your Shoulders, Supple Spines, and Unroll Your Legs.  Join a class, and go from bound to unwound.

Share Pilates with a friend with Duet Sessions

Want to share a Pilates session with a friend or loved one?  Waveforms offers duet sessions on the Pilates equipment.  The Pilates equipment provides additional resistance and support to help elevate your practice.  Duet sessions are a great way to get in an extra session during the week, or to supplement your mat class training.  Duet sessions are 55-minutes in length, and have a rate of $46 per person.

Reach out to us via phone (612)219-6255 or e-mail info@waveformspilates.com to sign-up for one of our specialty offerings. Questions? Reach out as well!

Pilates offers Freedom, So Let’s Get Moving! “What Pilates Is and Why I Teach It”

Category : business , entrepreneurship , mind-body , movement , Pilates

By: Courtney Holcomb, PMA-CPT, Owner Waveforms Pilates

What Pilates Is

Pilates helps to close the gap between your physical moving body, and what your mind believes is your movement potential.  My role as a Pilates instructor is to assist in building confidence in your movement potential. 

What Pilates Is Not

When I first tell people I teach Pilates, I often get the response: “Oh, I can’t do Pilates, it’s too hard!”  Though there are many advanced movements in the Pilates repertoire that is just a small limb of the work. That is not the essence of the work.  Pilates has the unique ability to meet any body where it is at, and propel it forward to its potential.  I don’t practice or teach Pilates to be able to master a pose, to develop super strong muscles that can make shapes, or to perform high-performance elitist tasks.  It’s not about poses, or positions, it’s about movement.  I do Pilates so that I can move, so that I can be capable of moving, and so that I have more pain-free options throughout the day.  It’s all about movement potential, not about building rigid shapes, forms, bound muscle, or tense bodies.  Movement and Pilates gives me freedom to do whatever I might have to do during the day, and to experience my body in the world with the physical experience I was designed to have and enjoy.

Why I Like and Teach Pilates

If you are wondering why I like Pilates, it’s because it’s a tool that helps me move and experience freedom in my body.  That is the type of message that I like to send with the way that I teach my students.  That is the way that I want my students to feel when they leave the studio space.  That they are more capable of moving in their bodies, and that they experience and feel more freedom in their bodies.  I want to help them feel more capable and build self-confidence in their movement than when they first stepped foot in the door.  I want them to find a sense of liberation from any of the list of conditions or symptoms they may feel they are experiencing that they believe limit their ability to move freely.  They are not an accumulation of all of “those things”, but a wonderful, capable, and free body, with great movement potential.

As a Pilates instructor, I will help you build confidence in areas you don’t believe you are capable, to offer the options that you may not have thought were available, to help your mind and body work to free you of any restrictive “labels”, and to help you feel at ease in both mind and body.

For me, being a Pilates instructor helps me offers freedom.

So, let’s get moving!

From dancer, to Pilates student, to Pilates instructor, and beyond…
It’s all about MOVEMENT.

“Understanding Our Hips and Core For Dancers”, 2-day workshop

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Category : dance , mind-body , movement , Pilates

Courtney led a two-day workshop titled “Understanding Our Hips and Core For Dancers”, to the Conservatory dancers at Celebrate Dance Academy, in Arden Hills, MN. The purpose of the workshop was to help their students figure out their pelvis placement to support the dynamic movement required while dancing. They were taught about proper core function and use, as well as release techniques for any tightness in the hip area.

Did you know that Waveforms will design specific workshops for special populations? Dance is definitely a specialty, but we also have provided workshops for: athletes, vocalists, musical theater students, creative movements for pre-K, pre-natal, post-natal, business professionals/offices, active-aging adults, etc.

Reach out if you have a group you’d like us to serve. Workshops are a great way to get specific cues, tips, and conditioning to help work towards your goals, and help with building a deeper understanding of our ever-changing bodies.

What Do We “Do” at Continuing Education?

Category : business , continuing education , mind-body , Pilates

Forward: Courtney Holcomb, Waveforms Pilates Owner/Instructor

Multiple times a year you will find both myself, and Molly Jo out for a period of time gone for what we describe as Continuing Education.  Though our primary Pilates educations have been completed for quite some time, the learning end of movement is never over.  Choosing the path of being Pilates instructors and movement educators, this is a commitment we have made to ourselves:

That the education doesn’t stop after our final exams.  There’s not a certain graduation of sort where now we’ve magically achieved and learned all we need to know to be a successful and effective Pilates instructors.  But mostly, this is a commitment to our students.

That we will not repeat the same things without further investigation and exploration.  That we will not subscribe to a “one-size-fits-all” model for our students.  That we will not just parrot what someone told us once about movement.  We will learn, explore, and experiment to find the best solutions for our students bodies, and our own.

Molly Jo is excited to share with you all some highlights from her training and experiences from the 2018 McEntire Summit.  This is her third year in attendance, and each year there are new topics for exploration and further education.

 

A Report from McEntire Summit 2018

Author: Molly Jo Mathe, Waveforms Pilates Instructor

 

In July, I traveled to Rochester, MI to attend the McEntire Summit at the McEntire Pilates Studio to deepen my knowledge in movement and Pilates. Each year, the summit takes on a theme or intention for its Breakout Sessions, offerings, and content. This year, Trent McEntire offered us the intention full-hearted… and indeed it was. We discussed a wide range of topics including scoliosis and spinal asymmetry, new equipment and its opportunities for creative imagery, the importance of thoughtful movement exploration, and our roles as Pilates Facilitators in the world and how I can best serve my purpose and share my expertise with others.

 

JUST MOVE!

The first Breakout Session I attended was “#JUSTMOVE: Facilitating Exploration in Movement” with James Crader as presenter. There, we learned the difference between being a facilitator of movement vs. training bodies – the benefits of both approaches and how one offers a leg up in encouraging autonomy in students’ movement practice and exploration as well as my own. I loved the quote on the top of his page, because it accurately sums up the session: “What if good movement wasn’t about getting it ‘right?’ What if just moving was the medicine we’re all looking for within our practice?” – James Crader. I firmly believe healthy and fulfilling movement modalities are thoughtful ones. When we’re being inquisitive about how we’re moving and what we’re feeling we can get better at creating movement strategies for ourselves that extend beyond the time spent in the studio.

 

THE DUET

My next session was presented by my lovely mentor, Jenna Zaffino, where I experienced and explored her new invention, The Duet ™. The Duet ™ is a roller accessory system which allows two foam rollers to hook together side by side to achieve more feedback to the back and side body through the Pilates repertoire. I loved experimenting with the ideas of movement texture, quality, volume, and vibrations through the feedback of The Duet ™ system. I left the rollers with a better sense of my body in relation to the space around me and felt like I was buzzing in every positive sense of the word. It felt so good to feel embraced by the rollers in such a supported way! Since returning, I occasionally hook the rollers together simply to lay on them for comfort, relaxation, and support (and who doesn’t want more of that in their lives?) Some of my students who have experienced the double rollers in their sessions with me have voiced desires of taking a nap on the duo-apparatus, because of the embrace-like quality they experience – I respond by saying, “I might squirt you with the spray bottle if you begin snoring.” #kidding #itendtomakealotofjokes

 

UNCONSCIOUS MIND

My last day of the Summit included more information from multiple presenters. In Shawn Healey’s Breakout of “The Neurology of the Unconscious Mind”, he discussed brain functions in detail as well as how the mind processes movement and how movement behavior can change through unconscious decisions. However, the truly mind blowing take away from his session was the sneak-peak into how we can cast aside negative responses like bodily pain or emotional trauma and transform our outlook to take on a more positive one on our past, present, and future. I’m still digesting all I learned from this workshop, and how I can translate this information into my life and my vocation.

 

SCOLIOSIS & ASYMMETRY

Later, with Dr. Suzanne Martin, we executed tests by utilizing tools (like eye dominance information) for assessing and correcting movement patterns in relation to “Spinal Asymmetry, Scoliosis, and Laterality”. I deal with discomforts and occasional pain from my scoliosis on a daily basis and wanted to experience the benefits of this test firsthand. So, I jumped at the opportunity to be a “test subject.” What we all observed after completing the first assessment, the corrective intervention (where we applied corrective exercises), and then the second assessment was an improvement in executing our basic functional movements – like walking. I was excited to bring back more tools to my Pilates toolbox for myself and my students at Waveforms Pilates struggling with similar discomforts.

 

MOVEMENT FOR MOVEMENT’S SAKE

In the last session of the conference, we moved together with the guidance of Heather Vaughan Southard and Carol Crincoli. Some was Pilates based and the rest was what some would classify as a creative movement experience. Being a dancer, I’m quite comfortable with exploring “unconventional” forms of movement in my body – if you’ve ever observed or participated in an dance improvisation class, you understand what I mean. For me, dance was simple; I took dance class in order to perform. I trained my body in a specific set of skills but not necessarily as a resource for my own self care. But there, we took our emotions and intentions out of our heads and translated that energy into physical movement. It was liberating, fun, awkward, silly, scary, and wonderful – all at once. And after completing the movement session, I felt an abandonment of judgement and an embrace of acceptance and compassion.

 

A FULL-HEARTED COMMUNITY

L to R: Molly Jo Mathe, Julia Molyboga, and Jenna Zaffino.

It was fulfilling to be surrounded by people and presenters who are not only passionate about what they do in the Pilates community, but are also purely genuine and full-hearted people. I couldn’t help but be inspired by the their presentations, kind words, advice, and intimate conversations by all who attended and contributed. Everything I learned and rediscovered that weekend iterates that movement is and can deliberately be an emotional outsource, and by engaging into a regular intentional practice we have the tools to help us on our quest for self care. Now, please don’t confuse what I’m saying to mean that I or Pilates should replace your therapist. Spoiler alert: I’m not a therapist. What I am, is a facilitator of movement who uses Pilates as a vector, and through movement we have an opportunity to heal and change our mind and body if we are willing to embrace these ideas and simply #showup.

-Molly Jo Mathe

Curious to experience some of these movement ideas for yourself?  Book a one-on-one session with Molly Jo today by contacting us at info@waveformspilates.com!

 

9 Things You Should Be Doing Everyday!

Category : mind-body , Pilates

Our health and wellness involves a lot more than just diet and fitness.  How we interact with our environment can have a huge impact on how we feel daily.  Here is a list of ways that I try to interact with my surroundings daily.  I find, when I hit all of these nine things, I rest my head at night with a smile on my face.  Give it a try!

  1. Get a little sweaty.
  2. Go outdoors. 2 minutes, 10 minutes, all day. Sunlight, vitamin D. Fresh air. Connection to nature.
  3. Laugh.
  4. Alone time.
  5. Spinal Extension. Our spine craves movement, in all directions.  A healthy spine is a mobile spine, and our forward-curving culture is in dire need of daily, healthy, spinal extension to help counter our forward-primary existence.
  6. Pause all media. It can consume you. Turn off all the screens. Listen to the birds, your breath, what your partner or child is trying to tell you.
  7. Go barefoot.
  8. Have an interaction with an animal, plant, or person (or all three).
  9. Share gratitude and thanks.

What’s In a Name? – Waveforms Pilates

Category : business , entrepreneurship , mind-body , movement

Starting a Pilates business five years ago under my name, “Courtney Anne,” I felt ready to develop a brand. I wanted it to represent the way holistic wellness feels doing Pilates work.  It’s not about me, and it never was about me, so I didn’t want to have my name representative of the business.

Spring of 2016, I began the process of brainstorming what represents Pilates, my voice in the industry, and how I wanted my students to feel after a session.  Through this journey, I solidified key aspects of my to-be brand and what I wanted to accomplish to further Pilates education.

Identifying a Brand

I took a Spring trip to Denver, Colorado, for a Pilates continuing education. I treated it like a sabbatical to take time to think about my business.  I collaborated with my creative-guru, engineering friend Eileen, and began the process of identifying “the brand.”

This was a scary process for me.  Though I’d been in the field for over five years, sitting down to identify what I did, why I did it, and what represented the business best, all felt like huge questions to answer.  Where do you even begin?  

My prescription: The classic brainstorming list. 

Eileen and I wrote down all the words we could think of that relate to Pilates.  GO!  We looked for connections, what were the underlying themes in words that keep coming up?  What stood out as most important?    

Finding Underlying Themes

After making the lists, we decided to go for a hike.  Fresh air to clear the mind and talk.  Maybe as two minds, we could better identify that string holding it all together.  We talked through the ideas that came up during our brainstorm and I shared with her my excitement about working in Pilates.

In my movement instruction, we identified a focus on form.  The movements are not random or performed without a clear intention.  They require thoughtfulness, and mindfulness.  I also love that Pilates is truly for any body, and for anyone, no matter what stage of life they are in.  I’ve worked with ages eight to eighty-six years old, with all various health considerations and fitness goals.  That is the beauty of Pilates.  I also firmly believe that Pilates helps you stay healthy and active through your entire life.  Helping you find freedom and ease in your movement.  

Claiming an LLC

Feeling refueled after my trip, I returned with many ideas I loved for a name. I started searching online only to discover many of them were already claimed or too similar to existing businesses. I was frustrated and felt back at square one. My husband, Estin, decided we needed to just pick a name we liked to file for an LLC. He realized that once we file, we could name a studio under that LLC as anything we wanted. This gave us more time to think about what we wanted our outward-facing brand to be.

When I was out for the day, he sent in a request for Waveforms, LLC.  Being a musician of synthesizers, he deals with waveforms all day: sawtooth-waves, square-waves, sine-waves, triangle-waves.  Waveforms…he thought it sounded cool.

Coming home, he told me that he filed as Waveforms, LLC.  I was initially irritated.  We had not discussed a name of anything close this beforehand.  I felt like something I had spent so much time thinking about was simplified into something I didn’t feel related to the business I wanted.

For the next few days, I tried to come up with unrelated names to our new LLC name for the studio.  I was at a stand-still.  But, the more and more I sat with the name Waveforms, underlying connections started to come together.

Running with Waveforms – Form and Intention

Doug Lowe, in his article about Measuring Electronic Waves describes waveforms as this:

“Waveforms are the characteristic patterns—These patterns indicate how the voltage in the signal changes over time — does it rise and fall slow or fast, is the voltage change steady or irregular, and so on.”

Suddenly, the connections was clear to me.  My husband’s music world and my movement world collided.  The body does just what this definition describes, patterns of movement.  Some efficient, some irregular and imbalanced.  This is what Pilates helps solve, bringing form and intention to our movement patterns.

Viewing a waveform on an oscilloscope, the device used for viewing an electronic wave, you can see that a wave is in constant motion.  Just as a wave in the ocean.  These patterns are capable of change over time.

Waveforms Pilates, it’s about movement and change. Constant movement and change, that can be charted overtime.  This is what Pilates is about.

Constant and Easeful Motion

I love the water.  Being a Scorpio, water is my natural element.  Being near the water always makes me feel calm, pensive, focused, strong, and connected to something greater.  I love watching the waves and seeing the repetitive, effortless, circular movement.  

Waves are created by sending energy through the water.  In Pilates, we send motion through our body by sending energy through it.  We keep the body in constant motion, much like a wave.

Some definitions of a wave include: to move freely; to bend or sway; to be moved, especially in opposite directions; a mass movement; a swell, surge, or rush, as a feeling or condition; any surging or progressing movement.

Yes! Pilates is all of these things.  Pilates offers all of these things.  Waveforms Pilates identifies with all of these things.  

Pilates is about finding effortless movement. Discovering inner peace and relaxation. Creating and passing energy through the body and feeling connected.

Pilates through All Stages of Life

Our body desires to move even when we don’t feel like it. It craves it.  Pilates helps us bring form to the movements of life.  We have peaks and valleys, just like a triangle waveform.  You may be coming off of an injury, you may have just lost a loved-one, you may have gained weight, you may be training for an upcoming race, you may be experiencing depression, Pilates can help move you.  

And when you move, you will be energized. You will feel more connected in your body and mind.  You will make measurable changes overtime.  You will experience ease in the body.  You will find better form and function.  You will feel more confident in you.  We believe this.    

We Are Waveforms Pilates

This is what we stand for:

Using Pilates to bring form and intention to movement, to allow you to stay in constant and easeful motion through all the stages of life.  

See what Pilates feels like in your body. Send us an email to schedule your first session today.

Feel Good, TODAY!

Category : fitness , mind-body , Pilates

By: Estin and Courtney Holcomb, Waveforms Pilates

 

At Waveforms Pilates, we often discuss the concept of health and wellness and what our personal experience of wellbeing feels like. For Courtney and I, we tend to cringe when we hear these keywords: health & wellness. The modern focus of health and wellbeing seems to only focus on extending one’s life. There’s no thought or reflection on its quality. Quality of life, right now.

Perhaps it’s a philosophical discussion, but can instant gratification of living a healthy lifestyle be enough to give us long term satisfaction?

What if we looked at our health and wellness from a purely selfish standpoint?

What if we focus on instant gratification instead of *ONLY* long term goals?

I am going to eat this grilled chicken salad with avocado now because it tastes great and I feel good after eating it.

Or I can go on that 5 mile run, 30 mile bike ride, or attend a 1 hour Pilates session NOW because I want to celebrate what my body is capable of today.

It makes ME feel great NOW and I am enjoying the rewards right away. The reward can be the experience itself. 

 

 

Claiming Your Life Now, Not Later

Over the past few years, I have seen people who lived super healthy lives come down with terminal illness. I’ve seen odds stacked against people who are sick, who find health and wellness once again. Cancer, heart attacks, strokes, and other things can change your life in one second – like thieves in the night. The sad reality is, our longevity is not a guarantee of the time and effort we put in to being healthy. A hope for longevity is harder to accomplish without the daily commitment to making yourself feel better.

 

A Fitness Regime for Today

Maybe figuring out what makes us feels good today, will shed light on what our true goals should be from a workout. After going to a fitness class, do you leave feeling immediately better, or do you feel destroyed? How many days does it take you to feel healthy and recovered after your workout? Did you lose time to feel good today because of a long recovery?

After completing a Pilates session, do I feel sore? Yes. Does it feel good? Yes. It is not debilitating, it does not “put me out for a week” until I can perform my next workout. It can truly be a daily practice. It makes my body feel good, works it in a functional way, and brings breath, posture, confidence, balance, and energy into my daily life. It makes me feel good today.

Fitness should not be only for longevity, but for daily wellness. Life’s longevity is not guaranteed. May longevity be the result of your commitment to the daily practices of making yourself feel better, right now.

We do not advocate someone to live a short life due to lack of self control and overindulgence, we advocate living and feeling great today, as many times as possible.

 

How are you feeling, today?

 

Waveforms Spotlight: Kalene & Arlen B. – Journey to Pilates

Category : fitness , mind-body , Pilates , workout

Are you putting off your New Year’s’ Resolution to get back into shape? Resurrect your fitness routine? Be healthier in 2017?

Pilates can meet you wherever you are in your fitness journey – just starting in the world of exercise, coming back from being injured, or looking to improve as an athlete. All backgrounds can start and see success with the low-impact resistance training that Pilates provides.

Kalene knew that Pilates training had helped her in the past. She took her first Pilates classes through her chiropractor. As she finished her chiropractor work, she drifted from Pilates. So when a friend shared a schedule of Waveforms Pilates mat classes, she decided it was time to give it another try.

 

Starting Back Up with Mat Classes

 

Kalene now takes one-on-one sessions and mat classes in the Waveforms Pilates studio. She’s always enjoyed the upbeat pace and challenge of the mat classes. At Waveforms, she particularly likes the small class sizes and personalized attention you receive from Courtney.

“Courtney really lets you know what to pay attention to in each exercise during class. She’s good at letting you know how to do the exercises right without singling you out – which is appreciated!” Kalene said.

She’s even gotten her husband to join her!

 

Sharing the Benefits of Pilates

 

Joining Kalene to mat class, Arlen started Pilates because he saw how much his wife enjoyed it. “Literally every time she came home from a session she would boast about how well she felt and how much she loved Pilates. Not only did I need to check this out for myself, but I also really needed to start getting back into shape,” he said.  This was enough to push Arlen to come to his first mat class.

After his first few classes, he felt sore but also grounded and balanced. He liked how Pilates strengthened his core and provided quick results in strength and agility. Pairing Pilates into his normal fitness routine, he sees it as a great way to get a balanced workout that will help him progress with his overall health.

 

Enhancing Her Practice With Private Sessions

 

“Since it had been so long since I’d taken Pilates, I wanted some extra coaching alongside the mat classes, so I take private sessions as well,” Kalene explained. Private classes gives her more focus on the areas she needs and wants to improve, and familiarizes her with the movements from mat class. The personal attention helps her focus on how to get the most out of each exercise and see more benefits from extra practice.

“Courtney is very intuitive, she can see what people need and what they don’t.” Kalene said.

 

Strength, toning, and more flexibility are all benefits that Kalene has experienced since starting back up with Pilates in the fall. She encourages anyone who’s apprehensive to try a class: “It’s one of the better exercises out there.”

“No matter what kind of day I’m having, when I’m done with a Pilates session I feel good mentally, physically, and emotionally.”

4 Easy Step for Keeping Your Fitness Resolutions

Category : fitness , mind-body , workout

Making a goal for improving your overall fitness may be easy, but keeping it up throughout the year can be a struggle.  Often times we find ourselves without a clear focus or the proper tools to succeed.  After an initial few weeks, we end up unmotivated, frustrated, and back to our old habits.

Have your goal be more than just empty words this year.  Below are four simple tools to help you with your follow through.  It’s not too late to set yourself up for a healthier YOU this year.

1. SET REALISTIC GOALS & BELIEVE YOU CAN ACHIEVE THEM

Set a first goal that you’d like to achieve. Write it down, and be specific.  Give yourself a realistic timeline based on your schedule.  Live in the mindset that your goal IS possible.  Attitude is half the battle.

2. ESTABLISH ACCOUNTABILITY & ROUTINE

Join a class and pay ahead of time.  Get a friend or family member on board to work with you.  Take a one-on-one session so it matters if you don’t show up.  Make fitness a part of your daily routine, schedule it in and don’t compromise.  This will set you up for success.

3. CELEBRATE LITTLE VICTORIES ALONG THE WAY

Recognize progress that is made along the way.  Note changes in the way you think, feel, energy levels, and overall well-being.  Smile!  You’re on your way.  Treat yourself along these milestones.  Book a massage or a trip to your favorite bookstore as you journey towards your goal.  Share your accomplishments with a loved one.

4. RE-ACCESS PROGRESS    

Give gratitude for how far you’ve come.  Acknowledge your hard work.  Keep it up!  Find a new goal or personal challenge, and start back at the top!  You’re doing great.

 

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