Overcoming Challenges

It seems that when something is really important or necessary, the level of challenge steps up. Yesterday was one of those days for Mixers. As we are getting closer to opening the store the challenges get bigger and better. Yesterday was unbelievable, and I don't know how we pulled off what we did. Drew flew in from Arizona for the focus group and was at the airport for 10 hours. Problem after problem continued with the plane. Needless to say, a flight that was supposed to arrive at 9am didn't get in until 5pm. Other challenges were the building not having electricity or water available, printing not working, and the simple operations turned into huge challenges. This was difficult because the focus group was at 6:30 and the sun was down. It was cold in the building and people really had to huddle together to see the questionnaire with the lanterns we bought, and probably to stay warm. Additionally with no power, we had to make the smoothies at an off site location. However, we are proud to announce that it happened and we got wonderful feedback. We would like to personally thank those who attended and gave such great feedback. Also those who organized all who came, (you know who you are). It was cold and probably uncomfortable, but everyone was very positive. I want to compare this to working out. There are many times within a workout routine where things may come up to disrupt your flow. Challenges come from many different directions such as, timing, responsibilities, injuries, opportunities, etc.... However, when the challenge comes; whatever it may be, push through and be resilient. There were many opportunities yesterday that we could have quit and called off the focus group. Like working out, consistency is king. You must be consistent with anything that is important for it to work. I live by a quote that I heard that goes like this, "schedule your priorities, not prioritize your schedule." For a workout routine to work and eventual health to be achieved, you must be consistent and you must push through the challenges. If you schedule your workout and make it a part of your day or every other day, be consistent. Challenges will come and that is life, but with all challenges come opportunity! Working out is a means to the end of being healthy, living a better life, and improving all areas of your life. As a body is healthy, the body is happy. Much like if mama ain't happy, then nobody is happy. Treat your body right, because you may not get a second chance. Make it a conscious goal and priority to get in shape and workout consistently. Live to the level that will help you overcome most challenges, knowing that you must reach at times to overcome all challenges. Have a continued safe and healthy weekend. Remember the Super Bowl is tomorrow and there will be many little challenges staring at you from the fridge, and from the table; but don't worry, you will overcome the challenge. Look for the highlight video of the focus group to be posted soon...

Have a great weekend

The purpose for today's post is to pass on a quote that I think is worth reading, but even more valuable with applying to ones life. We are bombarded every single day with how things are so bad for the economy, for jobs, for families, etc.... I do believe that we are going through very challenging times, but I think and other have expressed; that this kind of negative attention only brings people down. We are all products of the environment around us, and when all we see is bad news and hurt I believe that it effects peoples mindset and attitude. When I woke this morning and saw that the sun was shinning, I decided that I am going to stop watching negative news stories. This may mean that I stop watching news all together, but at least I will still have sports center. They seem to be up beat and always willing to make me laugh. The point is, take the time this weekend and laugh, I mean really laugh and make others laugh. It may be easier if you watch the super bowl and key in on the commercials. Decide today that you will not allow negativity to get you down. Be positive and optimistic and I promise that you will start feeling better and enjoy better health. Without further delay, here is the quote for the day:
"To laugh often and much, to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children, to earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends, to appreciate beauty, to find the best in others, to leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch.... to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded"! Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803 - 1882)

Workout regiment

I had a very good friend give me a suggestion that I find extremely valuable. He expressed interest in knowing what workouts other people do and have had success with. Also he gave feedback that it would be valuable to have guest posting. I love the ideas and I am in the process of learning how to do these and other things the best way. For now, if you have a desire to post something other than a comment; contact me and we will feature you as our guest blogger. For now we will have you send your post to me in an email and I will copy it into a blog. For today's post I thought I would post what I believe is one of the ultimate cross training lifts that one can do. I have had personal trainers tell me that a squat is one of the most complete lifts that a person can do because it works the entire body. I have found another, and it may be hard to explain without seeing, so I will post a video in the future. What you do is grab a pair of dumb bells of equal weight. It is important not to grab something to light, but this is not a power lift either. You lay down on your back on a free-standing bench. Slide your head all the way to the top and position the dumb bells at your chest as though you were going to do the bench press. The most important part to this lift is elevating your legs between 30-45% angles. Keep your legs firm and pointed as to work your legs and really work your abs. As you lift the dumb bells you will take them to their highest point and rotate them touching the insides, then the outsides, and finally the middles of the dumb bells. Repeat this 10 times. As you reach 10 maintain your angle with your legs and now put your dumb bells right next to each other just barely above your chest. Keep them squeezed together as you go up and down in one solid motion, 10 times. After this lift you will continue to keep your legs elevated and put down one of the weights to the floor. After doing so take the one dumb bell and place it above your head and do 10 repetitions with you extending the weight as high as you can get it and then slowly coming down above your head and get as close to the ground with the weight as possible. After the 10 repetitions you are done and can put the other weight on the floor. After a 30 second break stand up and take the weight positioning it above and behind your head. You will do 10 reps in the vertical position going up and down from above your head to in between your shoulder blades. You will repeat this 3 or 4 times depending on how your body feels. You don't want to burn out and drop the weight on your face, ( I have done it). This workout is what I believe one of the best for your body. You work your core very hard so it is important to know your limits. If the weight is too heavy stop!!! immediately and get a lower weight. Your body in that natural position is working your calf's, hamstrings, gluts, quads, and abs. With the weights you are working your biceps, triceps, chest, fore arms, shoulder and back muscles. Try it this next week only once until you know how your body responds. The key is also to keep going as fast as you can so that you are breathing hard, which will strengthen your heart and help with your endurance. With your heart rate up, it could be considered a cardio exercise which is burning fat and building great lean muscle. That is all for today. Have a great one....

Start your day right

As a theme of health, I wanted to bring up a daily routine for which I believe helps my day be productive and has numerous health benefits. It's called water.... Yeah crazy, our body is made up of 70% of the stuff and we need to continually replenish ourselves. I want to illustrate this by a story. Two ponds lived at the top of the hill and were great friends. The one pond was anxious and outgoing and was always looking for adventure. The one pond said to the other; "hey lets jump out of our bed and rush down the hill. The other said this is crazy you will dry up, I will just stay here. So the excited pond jumped out of his bed and rushed down the hill. The clouds started to form and before he knew it he was falling to the earth as precipitation. Once he was whole again he told his friend how enjoyable it was and that he actually felt better and more full. He pleaded with his friend to try the jump, but to his chagrin he was rejected. This process continued for months until one day, the pond that just wanted to stay in his bed, was so small, and the water had been evaporated so much, and the water was so dirty; that he was unable to move. Eventually he dried up. The moral of the story is to always replenish yourself and renew yourself. Water has this amazing capability of refreshing, replenishing, and renewing. I have heard and now believe, that the best calculation for the amount of water is to take your weight, divide it by 2 and that will equal the amount in ounces that you should drink in a day. The best way is to start your day with a large glass of water. As soon as you wake up, brush your teeth and then down a large glass of water. That cold refreshing glass will awaken the giant inside and help start your day right. Repeat this throughout the day depending upon your weight until about 6 pm. My personal observation is that if I drink much past that I am up all night having to go to the bathroom. At the end of the day I feel great. Clarity of thought, feeling more energy, and healthy skin are just a few benefits. Try it for a week and see what you think. I promise you that it will change the way your day goes.

The post tonight is coming late and could even fall into a category of Tuesday depending how long I rant. Today I found that my basement flooded due to rising water levels and temperamental sub pumps. Ridiculous really, but I did learn a lesson. I found that as I was swearing at the carpet and the shop vac that spilled after all the work that I had done, that really I was not getting anywhere. Sure I was making some small progress in clean up, but for my mental health I was only hurting my day. As your body goes through a day it goes through natural highs and lows. Stress is a good thing in small levels. Your bodies response to stress is the key. If a body gets to stressed; it will start to shut down literally. Blood will not flow as freely to the brain to create thought and stimulate messages to the body, the immune system stops fighting bacteria, and as a result the body becomes lethargic and unable to with stand the pressures. In my situation, I found that the negative self talk was not working. I also found that sitting there looking at the job was not working. So I had to take a break and just relax. Life happens and so many times we are unable to influence all that happens. Stress will occur and to my surprise can be a good thing. When your body starts to feel stress or pressure, it goes to work creating adrenaline. If harnessed adrenaline is one of the greatest tools that your body has. In opposition to what was previously mentioned, the body is nourished when one learns to control the stresses in life. I do not mean to say that I am an expert at the body, however, knowing what stresses you out and consequently how you can alleviate that stress is healthy. In fact you will live longer if you can balance the load of stress and enjoy a healthier life style. hacuna Mata ta or however you spell it. Take a break, sing, laugh at your self, maybe even swear, but do not take part in negative talk, violence, or stress. Control the level however you must, but remember use the adrenaline to pick yourself up and get the situation resolved, or ask for input of someone who is on the balcony so to speak. An outsider can give you a great look on a problem as if standing on a balcony for possible resolution. Ultimately you must decide to solve your own problem and overcome the stress. With that said live your life to the fullest.

Saturdays suggestions

when establishing a workout regiment, one must decide how many days per week that they are wanting to work out. Some people workout 6 days a week, others workout 3 days per week. Here is the thought for the day. Let your body be your guide. Our bodies are amazing and have ways of telling us what we can and cannot handle. Regardless of how many times a week you workout. Spend Saturday doing something enjoyable. Work in the garden, take on a project at your home, play a pick-up game of basketball. You could also go for a run, ride a bike, anything really that will get your heart going. The point is this; to achieve a balance in your life, you must enjoy your life. There is enjoyment in work and labor. All to often days are spent watching t.v. and not being productive. Try it for a week and see how you feel. With your body being a complex message center, it will relay messages to you about what is good. I have received our first suggestion on improving the site. The suggestion came from a very good friend whom I deeply respect. His suggestion is to download workouts that all of us can benefit from and share with eachother. If you have a great workout, feel free to contact me so that we can post it. I will be doing the same starting next week. Having a plethora of things to do while at the gym, will keep you coming back for more and shocking your body into results. Until next time, happy blending...

Today I thought that I would take a little time and share some advice. To all you avid gym goers, you may be looking for ways to change up your workout. It is proven that through muscle memory, that your body will adjust to a workout and plateau. This is why cross-training is so useful and it works great to change your workout every 3 to 4 weeks. Here is a suggestion with the above mentioned. Each day do something for your core. I have heard many times from others that you should not work a muscle day after day. I listened to this for a long time, until I wanted to cut some belly fat and trim my stomach. I worked out consecutively day after day on my abs. Each day I tried something different and new that really pushed my abs like I hadn't before. The result is a stronger core, no more back pain, and abs that I can actually see. It is my opinion and from my results feel confident in suggesting the same to all of you. Do different types of exercises that target all of the different stomach zones. If you are looking for any suggestions, let me know and I can give you some. Until next time happy blending.

Introduction

To begin this blog we will begin by introducing ourselves. My Name is Scott Schwab. I grew up in Idaho, but have lived in a variety of locations. The continuous changes in the world have opened my eyes to many great things. Hi my name is Drew Cavner. I grew up in Peoria Arizona and currently live in Arizona. As a team we will be posting articles, clips, stories, and a compilation of things you may find of interest. Our goal is to introduce ourselves as business owners, friends, and confidants. We would love as much feedback on our blog and about our site as possible. In the future this blog will be a daily checklist of things to do and things not to do. As the name suggests we will be mostly concerned with the health of the body. Both of us have benefited from having an active lifestyle and taking supplements to aid us in the process. We love sports and the outdoors. If it were our choice, we would spend each day playing a sport or living life to the fullest in the outdoors. To us, a day is incomplete without a workout of body, mind, and soul. Health comes from a balance of activities and involvement. The breakdown of the body usually goes something like this. Mental physical, social, and spiritual. There are other factors and categories, but these seem to be the main classes or the breakdown that people are familiar with. As we open our business and expand we plan to improve and introduce more features and products. Mixers is a business that is dedicated to our customers and products. The reason that we are getting into business is to serve a growing need that we see. Some problems that exists in our society are multiple fast food places and unhealthy options for food consumption, with a small variety of healthy options. Mixers will provide people with healthy alternatives with supplements and smoothies. All of our smoothies will include some type of protein or supplement that are proven to be healthy and nutritious for the body. The problems that people have had with trying proteins or supplements, whether you are a regular or not, is the taste! Education is also something that prevents people from trying proteins or supplements. The truth is, we have developed a very healthy smoothie that tastes great. I know that is hard to believe and with past experience you may be saying, " no way". It is possible and we have achieved it. It is all in the blending and what you include. Let me give an example. Jamba Juice blends smoothies that are high in sugars and include syrups for flavor. As good as the smoothies are, they really are not the best alternative for you. The first problem exists with the highly processed sugars and syrups. These create a sweet taste, but at the expense of your daily caloric intake and dietary needs. The other problem is what people refer to as the "CRASH" phase. This happens because of all the sugars and artificial sweeteners in their smoothies. This feeling leads to a flat or blah feeling a couple hours after consuming the drink. Good news. With the development of time released proteins and a different spin on creating the smoothie; we created the ultimate alternative. The smoothies in many cases are half of the calories, sugars, and fat that a normal Jamba Juice would have. In the near future the first Mixers will open its doors and we hope to have all of you attend and lend your support. The thing with business is that business can always be improved. We hope to hear your comments and suggestions so that this is a site that is a must on your daily routine. Until next time, happy blending....