Your Fitness Game Plan for Your Colorado Wedding

Time to get ready for your wedding ceremony in Colorado! Here's the adaptable game plan for the next four-eight weeks and beyond (a lifetime of habits doesn’t change in a month, after all). Please note that many of the phases will overlap. Although I recommend checking off each line item before proceeding to the next, feel free to jump around as desired (but know that it was designed and ordered strategically :)).

Whole Food Diet / Photo: Ella Olsson

PHASE 1: Learn about Posture, Proper Form, and the Neutral Spine

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Part 1: Learn about Posture, Proper Form, and the Neutral Spine

Posture and movement: Review the posture and movement emails from your new favorite Denver personal trainer :)

Injury prevention for the lower back and posture: Review this article to learn about lower back injury prevention and proper posture.

• Article: How I've Prevented More Lower Back Pain in the Last 12 Years (After 2 Bulging Disks)

Proper sitting: Review this article about proper form while sitting and change the way you sit.

• Article: Why Your Office Desk Is Destroying Your Posture (And What You Need To Do)

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Part 2: Integrate Exercises for Injury Prevention

Continuum of corrective exercise to limit pain and discomfort:

• Article: A Guide to NASM’s Corrective Exercise Continuum

Daily Rotator cuff/anterior shoulders and lower back/hips Exercises: Watch these videos and incorporate these warm-up range of motion exercises into your routine.

• Video: Shoulder External Rotation in Neutral Position

• Video: Shoulder External Rotation at 90 Degrees

• Video: Alligators

• Video: Hip Stretches

• Video: Glute Bridges

• Restorative Yoga Videos: https://youtu.be/c56tAJ9KjRg or https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BtVrPUylxp8

Core stabilization exercises: Incorporate this proper form for your plank.

• Plank on the Elbows

Lumbar spine exercises to alleviate lower back discomfort:

• Exercises for lower back pain

• Video: Alligators

• Video: Glute Bridges (standard two foot bridge only without the bands)

Thoracic spine mobility exercises to alleviate shoulder and neck discomfort:

• Corrective Exercises for Optimizing Thoracic Spine Mobility

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Part 3: Foster Awareness

• Book: Read Introduction in the book Redefine Yourself by Michael Moody

• Book: Read Chapter 1: You Are Not Alone in the book Redefine Yourself by Michael Moody

• Book: Read Chapter 2: Practice Mindfulness in the book Redefine Yourself by Michael Moody

• Book: Read Chapter 3: Listen to Your Inner Voice in the book Redefine Yourself by Michael Moody

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Part 4: Review Additional Resources

• Book: Real Movement: Perspective on Integrated Motion & Motor Control by Gary Gray

• Book: Athletic Body in Balance by Gray Cook

• Book: Becoming A Supple Leopard 2nd Edition (The Ultimate Guide to Resolving Pain, Preventing Injury, and Optimizing Athletic Performance) by Kelly Starrett

Finding a new awareness with your pup at your side. / Photo: Cottonbro

PHASE 2: Examine the Mental, Emotional, and Environmental Obstacles to Your Success and Adapt

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Part 1: Examine the Environment's Influences on Your Success

• Book: Read Chapter 12: Change Your Environment in the book Redefine Yourself by Michael Moody and make a list of external influences on your behaviors and choices.

• Podcast: Listen to the podcast episode #24-Exploring the Psychology of our At-Home Environment with Dr. Preston

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Part 2: Examine the Underlying Influences on your Behavior

Learn how to manage your stress and anxiety:

• Article: What Being a Parent Taught Me About Managing Stress

• Article: How to Overcome Your Anxiety at Work

• Podcast: Listen to episode #16 - The Examination of Personal and Collective Trauma with Dr. Bakalar

Learn how insecurity and fears influence your behavior:

• Book: Read Chapter 4: Face Your Fears in the book Redefine Yourself by Michael Moody to examine how fear influences your behavior.

• Book: Read Chapter 5: Extinguish Your Insecurities in the book Redefine Yourself by Michael Moody to examine how insecurities influence your behavior and how to change your perspective.

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Part 3: Examine your Decision-Making Process and Problem-Solving Approach

• Book: Read Chapter 10: Change the Way You Decide in the book Redefine Yourself by Michael Moody to examine your decision-making process and how it influences your behavior.

• Book: Read Chapter 13: Approach New Problems with Confidence in the book Redefine Yourself by Michael Moody to examine your problem-solving approach and how it influences your behavior.

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Part 4: Find Inspiration

Find motivation through the wisdom of others by reviewing these articles and posting one quote on your closet wall to be seen daily:

• Article: 4 Quotes That Steer My Approach to Life Right Now

• Article: 12 Inspirational Quotes that Have Shaped My Life Over the Last Year

• Article: My 10 Favorite Life-Guiding Quotes from the Stoic, Marcus Aurelius

• Article: My Favorite James Clear Quotes and Thoughts (Set 1)

Reexamine the perspective on your daily life and approach:

• Article: The 1 Article that Will Make You Rethink Your Day-to-Day Approach

Rethink your professional (and personal) approach:

• Article: 6 Principles That Will Transform Your Professional Approach

Design a new mindset:

• Podcast: Listen to episode #26 - Designing the Mind in a New Year | Author Ryan A. Bush

No longer limit yourself and literally travel outside of your boundaries:

• Article: The Detailed Itinerary You Need for a Journey to Lisbon, Porto, and Madrid and the Best Restaurants in Each

• Article: The Detailed Itinerary You Need for a Long Weekend in London and a List of 141 of their Best Restaurants

• Article: The Detailed Itinerary You Need for an Adventure in Australia (You’ll Need to Save This)

Setting new goals and creating new habits are often a chess match. / Photo: Pixabay

PHASE 3: Set New Goals and Create a Supporting Structure of New Habits

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Part 1: Purpose and Goals

• Book: Read Chapter 18: Define Your Purpose in the book Redefine Yourself by Michael Moody to guide your reflection on your life’s intent.

Learn how to set sustainable goals:

• Article: How to Set Sustainable Goals

• Read Chapter 19: Create Goals to Maintain Your Positive Focus in the book Redefine Yourself by Michael Moody to examine how to create goals and support a life of positivity and satisfaction.

Examples of goals to steer your short and long-term focus:

• Article: My List of New Year’s Resolutions (and How I’ll Achieve Each)

• Article: My List of Intents for 2020 (and How I’ll Achieve Each)

• Article: A List of My Intents for 2021 (Perhaps a Template for Yours)

• Article: A List of My Intents for 2022 (Perhaps a Template for You, Too)

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Part 2: Specifically Structure and Design Your Fitness, Diet, and Professional Paths

Build a business plan for optimal health :

• Article: Your Business Plan to Lose Weight (or Achieve Optimal Health)

Develop a specific fitness plan:

• Article: The Best All-In (Life Changing) Fitness Plan

• Article: How to Create a Weekly Fitness Plan

Being your diet game plan:

• Article: WEIGHT LOSS DIET INTRODUCTION: The Game Plan / Immersive Experience

Rethink your professional plan:

• Podcast: Listen to episode #35 - Designing Your New Work Life | Dave Evans

Create more time for your personal training sessions and other fitness efforts:

• Article: How to Create More Time Each Week (And It’s Easier Than You Think)

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Part 3: Creating Habits to Support Your Goals

Examine your current habits and create new habits to support your health and fitness goals:

• Article: 5 Morning Habits That Have Made Me More Successful (and Less Stressed)

• Book: Read Atomic Habits by James Clear.

Find new ways to create time for yourself and fitness:

• Article: How to Create More Time Each Week (And It’s Easier Than You Think)

Time to test new programs in LoHi and beyond! / Photo: LiSun

PHASE 4: Test New Fitness Programs and Activities

Part 1: Find new ways to amplify your current workouts

• 5 Easy Ways to Amp Up Your Workouts

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Part 2: Test new workouts

• Test Exercise Program: Lower/Upper/Core (30-40 Minutes)

• Test Exercise Program: Legs/Upper Body/Core (30-40 Minutes)

• Test Exercise Program: Legs/Shoulders/Core (30-40 Minutes)

• Test Exercise Program: Back/Triceps/Core (30-40 Minutes)

• Test Exercise Program: Chest Presses/Back Rows/Chest Flyes

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Part 3: Test new hikes (or something else active outside of the gym)

• Colorado Hikes near Denver: Nymph Lake, Lake Haiyaha Loop via Fire Trail (RMNP)

• Colorado Hikes near Denver: North Table Mountain West Loop (Golden)

• Colorado Hikes near Denver: Elk Falls Lookout and Elk Falls Pond (Staunton State Park)

• Colorado Hikes near Denver: Green Mountain Loop via Chautauqua Trail

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#35 - Designing Your New Work Life | Dave Evans

#35 - Designing Your New Work Life | Dave Evans

Welcome to “The Elements of Being” podcast, where I dissect and explore the minds and habits of psychologists, filmmakers, writers, and industry icons. Essentially, we examine the mental and emotional narratives and processes that steer the social stream of consciousness….Truly a chance to geek out over the psychology behind human behavior. Each episode is a glimpse into the trends and patterns of human behavior and the underlying influences that navigate us into different directions. Whether we primarily focus on nutrition or the unconscious, guests share insights, thought-provoking lessons, the nuances of creativity, and the elements of being….us.

Today, I'd like to introduce you to Dave Evans, the Codirector of the Stanford Life Design Lab and a co-founder of Electronic Arts, one of the world's largest interactive entertainment companies. He also led the design of Apple's first mouse and laser printer and has a BS and MS in Mechanical Engineering from Stanford.

Recently, Dave and his colleague, Bill Burnett, coauthored the #1 New York Times bestseller Designing Your New Work Life....and it served as the foundation of our conversation. It's a job-changing, outlook-changing, life-changing book that shows us how to transform our new uncharted work lives and create a meaningful dream job. With new insights on making our way through disruption- large and small, personal or global-the book helps us navigate during these times of fear and anxiety about the unknown and through our post-COVID work lives and beyond.

Specifically, we discuss their Disruption Design with a focus on curiosity, reframing, radical collaboration, awareness, bias to action, and storytelling. We also learn how to make possibilities available even when our lives have been disrupted, examine the tools to enjoy the moment, and begin to prototype our future.

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To learn more about Dave Evans and his new book, visit https://designingyour.life.

The Elements of Being Podcast with Michael Moody featuring Dave Evans

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In this episode, we specifically discussed:

-How to redesign our professional lives with unknown disruptions in mind when we've already invested in a specific path.
-How to break the chain of working endlessly without satisfaction and "doing whatever it takes" modeled by our parents and society.
-How to approach the dilemma of serving life of purpose for less pay or settling for a higher wage at a less satisfying job.
-Design thinking and the benefit of applying this mode of thinking to our professional lives.
-The importance of curiosity in our professional lives.
-Prototyping new positions and experiences while serving a current position.
-How we can reframe our current position to change our work experience or career trajectory.
-A distinction between reframing and renaming our work experiences.
-The benefits of radical collaboration.
-The foundation of great storytelling.
-The best exit strategies.

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Listen to all episodes on Apple, Spotify, Overcast, Castbox, Stitcher, or on your favorite podcast platform!

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#34 - The Lens of a Positive Psychologist During a Crisis | Dr. Itai Ivtzan

#34 - The Lens of a Positive Psychologist During a Crisis | Dr. Itai Ivtzan

Welcome to “The Elements of Being” podcast, where I dissect and explore the minds and habits of psychologists, filmmakers, writers, and industry icons. Essentially, we examine the mental and emotional narratives and processes that steer the social stream of consciousness….Truly a chance to geek out over the psychology behind human behavior. Each episode is a glimpse into the trends and patterns of human behavior and the underlying influences that navigate us into different directions. Whether we primarily focus on nutrition or the unconscious, guests share insights, thought-provoking lessons, the nuances of creativity, and the elements of being….us.

Today, I’d like to introduce you to Dr. Itai Ivtzan, a positive psychologist, a Professor at Naropa University, and the School of Positive Transformation Director. Over the past 20 years, he has run seminars, lectures, workshops, and retreats in the USA, UK, and worldwide at various educational institutions and private events. In addition, Dr. Itzvan is a regular keynote speaker at conferences and has published five books and more than 50 journal papers and book chapters. His main areas of research and teaching are positive psychology, mindfulness, and spirituality.

Accordingly, Dr. Itzvan has invested much time in studying mindfulness academically, writing books about it, teaching it, and training mindfulness teachers. As part of his work, he established the School of Positive Transformation, offering practical well-being courses for practitioners, teaching them how to transform themselves and their clients and students.

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To learn more about Dr. Itai Ivtzan, visit https://schoolofpositivetransformation.com.

The Elements of Being Podcast with Michael Moody featuring Dr. Itai Ivtzan

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In our interview, we examine the lens of a positive psychologist during a period of crisis. Dr. Ivtzan shared his personal struggles during the onset of the pandemic, and we discussed how to practice empathy when in conflict with family and friends and compassion for loved ones who hurt us. We also dive into the meaning we assign to such disruptions like the recent pandemic and destructive wildfires in Colorado, as well as the role of meditation and mindfulness in our well-being.

In this episode, we specifically discussed:

-The lens of a positive psychologist during a crisis.
-Making sense of crisis.
-Sitting with ourselves when our physical states are threatened.
-The dialogue regarding collective trauma in the positive psychology community.
-Feeling compassion for others when we've been hurt by even those who love us.
-Practicing empathy when experiencing fiery divisions between family, friends, and people we don't know.
-The role of mindfulness in building resiliency.
-The reasons why solitude is vital to our mindfulness.

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Listen to all episodes on Apple, Spotify, Overcast, Castbox, Stitcher, or on your favorite podcast platform!

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#33 - Systematically Building a Regenerative Future | Brenna Simmons-St. Onge`

#33 - Systematically Building a Regenerative Future | Brenna Simmons-St. Onge

Welcome to “The Elements of Being” podcast, where I dissect and explore the minds and habits of psychologists, filmmakers, writers, and industry icons. Essentially, we examine the mental and emotional narratives and processes that steer the social stream of consciousness….Truly a chance to geek out over the psychology behind human behavior. Each episode is a glimpse into the trends and patterns of human behavior and the underlying influences that navigate us into different directions. Whether we primarily focus on nutrition or the unconscious, guests share insights, thought-provoking lessons, the nuances of creativity, and the elements of being….us.

Today, I’d like to introduce you to Brenna Simmons-St. Onge, the Executive Director of The Alliance Center. She is a pragmatic visionary with over 15 years of leadership experience, including a decade in corporate social responsibility. During the pandemic, Brenna launched the Regenerative Recovery Coalition-a coalition with over 335 members working together to build Colorado towards a regenerative future. Through large public-private partnerships, Brenna is leading the Coalition to create equitable social structures that will foster shared prosperity on a healthy planet. As a dynamic change agent, Brenna leads with a nonprofit heart and a business mind leveraging holistic approaches to implement and scale solutions to some of the largest issues humanity faces.

In our interview, we break down the concept of a regenerative future and the individual and social efforts required for systems-level change, as well as the gap between idealism and pragmatism. We also examine how to secure the attention of policymakers and corporations and how they should rethink and measure success and growth within a capitalist system.

The Elements of Being Podcast with Michael Moody featuring Brenna Simmons-St. Onge

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In this episode, we specifically discussed:

-How to personally balance living in our modern capitalist system while recognizing the significant challenges upon us.
-Transition from a corporate career to a values-driven professional path.
-The definition of the concept "regenerative future."
-How the Alliance Center has drawn the attention of governors and other politicians in Colorado.
-How Brenna and the Alliance Center choose the most appropriate focuses at a given time for driving systems-level change with regenerative business in mind.
-How we can bridge the gap between idealism and pragmatism.
-What's required in the "regenerative future" message to secure the attention of policymakers and corporations.
-How corporations and smaller businesses should rethink and measure success and growth within a capitalist system.

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To learn more about Brenna Simmons-St. Onge, visit https://www.thealliancecenter.org/.

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Listen to all episodes on Apple, Spotify, Overcast, Castbox, Stitcher, or on your favorite podcast platform!

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#32 - Growing a New Future of Farming and Food Equity | Dr. Damien Thompson

#32 - Growing a New Future of Farming and Food Equity | Dr. Damien Thompson

Welcome to “The Elements of Being” podcast, where I dissect and explore the minds and habits of psychologists, filmmakers, writers, and industry icons. Essentially, we examine the mental and emotional narratives and processes that steer the social stream of consciousness….Truly a chance to geek out over the psychology behind human behavior. Each episode is a glimpse into the trends and patterns of human behavior and the underlying influences that navigate us into different directions. Whether we primarily focus on nutrition or the unconscious, guests share insights, thought-provoking lessons, the nuances of creativity, and the elements of being….us.

Today, I’d like to introduce you to Dr. Damien Thompson, the co-founder of the organization, Frontline Farming, and director of the Center for Food Justice and Healthy Communities.

In addition to his training in anthropology, Dr. Thompson holds a certification in Permaculture Design and a 200-hour Yoga Alliance Teaching Certification. His interests center on the building of community food systems, small-scale urban food production, developing community, and cultural practices related to food and medicine, teaching and learning in education and permaculture. Dr. Thompson has a keen interest in how communities can utilize traditional and modern information and practices to build food systems that uplift marginalized and oppressed peoples, restore ecosystems, build biodiversity, support cultural diversity as well as provide individuals and families with the highest level of access to the means to support their own health (and we talk quite a bit about these topics today). I should mention that Dr. Thompson is also a mayor-appointed member of the Sustainable Food Council for the City of Denver, and a co-chair for the city’s Good Food Purchasing policy group. No doubt, he plays a significant role in the necessary trend of regenerative agriculture and our future connection to food.

The Elements of Being Podcast with Michael Moody featuring Dr. Damien Thompson

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In our interview, we bridge his education in anthropology to his farming practice and social work as the co-founder of Frontline Farming. Specifically, we geek out on the fundamentals of farming and the benefits of permaculture and a regenerative agriculture focus. We further dissected the social challenges surrounding food security, justice, and sovereignty as well as the equitable changes needed in our food system.

In this episode, we specifically discuss:

-Frontline Farming's mission.
-Advantages and disadvantages of regenerative agriculture practices with a focus on no-tilling/conservation tilling, water conservation, terracing, and cover crops.
-Inequality in our present food systems and the need for changes in food security, food justice, and food sovereignty.
-The connection between big data, food systems, and racial equity.
-The importance and repercussions of the language we use in our discussion about food systems and the policy that supports them.

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To learn more about Dr. Thompson, visit https://www.frontlinefarming.org/.

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Listen to all episodes on Apple, Spotify, Overcast, Castbox, Stitcher, or on your favorite podcast platform!

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