Think Positive!

Melissa's Tip of the Week is designed to help you and your family to live happier, healthier lives through a good diet and exercise. View this email in your browser

Last week, I realized the true power of positive thinking. It's not just about achieving your goals--it's also about defeating the negative influences in our lives.  You don't have to look far, do you?  Turn the corner and there is a person in a car that's seriously unhappy, and ready to make your day so.  At the water cooler at work, maybe there's a "negative Nancy", just waiting to pour out her misery upon you.  And sometimes, despite our best efforts, we bleed our disappointment onto our friends and family.  But it doesn't have to be that way. You have the ultimate power to change the things in your life that you wish to change.  You can get stronger, lose weight, or learn another language.  You can choose to eat healthier, or take up a hobby you've always wanted to try.  You can try a new class, take up yoga, or go to the park.  Breathe the fresh spring air, and be reinvigorated! And you also have the power to eschew the negative influences.  You can choose to think positively, and ignore the barrage of negative people out there.  You can put a smile on your face, and brave the onslaught.  Keep going, you're making a difference- in your life, and in the lives of others.  Plant the seeds that will grow into a positive influence on someone else's day.  Ignore the bad, and embrace the good.  You are the power.

The exercise above is a Split Jump Lunge.  It's like doing a regular lunge, but then adding some power to the exercise, increasing the calorie burn, and the burn in those muscles!  Adding power to your exercise stimulates those type ll B muscle fibers, responsible for fast, powerful response.  They help you build muscle (hypertrophy), and because your heart rate will also respond by going up, and your core temperature will rise, they also help burn MORE CALORIES... Pilates...a great core workout, and a great way to increase your performance in just about any sport or physical endeavor.  And this exercise, the Pilates Swimmer, is particularly well suited to improving back strength.  In fact, you are working the entire back side of your body.  As you can see from the picture, everything is activated, and you pump your opposite arm and leg.  This can be done slowly, with control, or a little faster, like a flutter kick.  Please notice that her head is in alignment with her spine, and she's looking in front of her, at the end of the mat, or just beyond.  This is recommended so that you don't strain the neck, but rather work those muscles with the best alignment possible.