You hear it ALL the time in the media. “BEAT THE BATTLE OF THE BULDGE!”. I don’t give a crap about the battle, I want you to win the war.

A general doesn’t care the result of the battles as long as he won the war. The battles mean nothing, but the end result means everything. What is your end result?

Your end result should be a life full of health and longevity. One bad weekend isn’t going to lose the war for you. You may lose that battle, but who cares about that one battle? Focus on your end goal and know you can enjoy Sunday BBQs with the family. You can enjoy Super Bowl. You can enjoy the holidays. But moderate it. Lose the battle, don’t get massacred. Stay focused on your long term goals to live longer and be healthier.

Now I am not saying you can lose EVERY battle and still win the war. If you lose every battle, you lost. As long as you win more battles that you lose, you will win the war. Moderation in everything and everything in moderation. Go enjoy yourself, but know overall, you need to eat cleaner, healthier and get your physical activity in.

People often hear the word meditation and get scared. They think it is some zen/religious practice that they want no part of. Others think it is a waste of time. And still then, there are those who just plain think its weird to do.

Meditation, as defined by Wikipedia, is “a mental discipline where by the practition attempts to get beyond the reflexive “thinking” mind into a deeper state of relaxation and awareness.” In other words, it is going to your “happy place”.

Mental health is often over looked when people want to try to get healthy. Relaxing is an important part of being healthy. It reduces stress, and clears the mind for increased mental health. And you don’t have to sit cross legged on the floor humming in order to reach this state. Think of a place where you go that you are completely relaxed. Some people meditate in silence. Others in noise. Some in the gym. Others outside. Some by themselves. Others with people around. It all depends on you! Meditation is nothing more than blocking every stress that you have in the world out, if only for a moment, and focusing on relaxing and letting nothing get to you.

One question I get asked when I talk about meditation is “How do I know when I hit that mindset”? That is a hard question to answer. It totally depends on what your mind thinks is relaxing. For me, it is getting my mind to “vacation mode”, even for a brief moment. When I go on a vacation, I don’t have a care in the world. I don’t think about work, stress, projects, deadlines, or anything else. I am fully in the moment and am completely relaxed. That is the place I try to get to when I meditate. I can’t go on a vacation every time I get stressed out. That is why meditating is so helpful. If you get stressed, and you need to relax, a quick meditation session can work wonders. Daily meditation will help you to be less stressed overall throughout your life.

Still struggling on the whole meditation concept? Just try this for starters: Whenever you are feeling overwhelmed, stressed, frustrated or anything of that nature, think of a few of your favorite things. It could be “Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens” (I kid). Or your grand kids, your wife, a place that you love, a time in your life where you were on cloud nine. Whatever makes you the happiest is what you are going to focus on. So when you are feeling stress, focus on that one thing as hard as you can. Try to get yourself to actual FEEL like you are there in the moment. Listen to the sounds of that moment. Feel the feelings of that moment. For example, if your place is the beach, feel the sun on your face, hear the ocean crash down, feel the sand in between your toes. Really get yourself into that place that makes you happy, even if just for a brief moment in time. Your mood/mind set will start shifting and you will start to feel better. You will know that your stresses and frustrations are little things in life and the important things are really the only things that matter. Stress doesn’t solve anything. Take a deep breathe and get back to whatever you were doing with a fresh new mindset and start kickin’ butt.

So in order to start getting your mental health as good as your physical health, start trying to meditate once in awhile. It will help clear your mind and relax your body.

You hear it all the time on the TV, Radio, from Doctors, around the coffee machine and throughout your daily life: Get physical activity in your life. But what exactly is physical activity and how much should you really get?

In science, physical activity is any bodily movement produced by skeletal muscles that result in energy expenditure. In real life, physical activity is basically anything that you break a sweat doing. Really anything. Do you work when you vacuum the house? That is physical activity. Do you work when you chase your grand kids? That is physical activity. Do you work when you go shopping and have to walk around the entire mall? That is physical activity.

What is NOT physical activity? Watching hours of TV. Sitting in front of a computer (reading killer articles on Ninteman Fitness is OK for now). Doing nothing is not physical activity. Physical activity doesn’t have to be hard to do. Just make

sure what you are doing is hard. Park farther at the mall. Do lunges when vacuuming. Race the kids around an obstacle course around the house. Do jumping jack during commercials through your favorite TV show. Walk up and down your stairs at your house. Find a step and do 20 min of stepping up and down your step. When you look around, you can really find ways to get in your 30 min a day 5 days a week of physical activity each week. It shouldn’t be a chore. Find things you are doing already and amp them up to get in your activity. Your health will thank you in the long run.

The term “Health and Wellness” is starting come into main stream as of late. Most people just relate it to their health and “wellness”. But do you really know the meaning behind “health and wellness”? It goes deeper than you would think.

I recently posed the question “What is the definition of health and wellness to you” on facebook and twitter. People came up with some great responses:

Here is my definition of health and wellness: Getting the whole pie.

Health and wellness has 5 categories mixed into one.

• Mental health-the ability to learn and develop intellectual capabilities
• Spiritual health-The belief in a unifying force-Godlike for some, nature for others, even science.
• Social health-The ability to interact and develop interpersonal relationships.
• Physical health-To supply the body with the nutrients and activity to ward off illness and disease, supply energy and maintain bodily function for maintenance and growth.

Health and wellness is making sure you have a full balance of every aspect of your health. Here is a breakdown on how you can work out each area of health and wellness:

• Mental health-Read, write, do puzzles.
• Spiritual health-This is important, even if you are not religious. But you have to believe in something, even if it is the religion of YOU! Take a few minutes every day, religious or not, to meditate. It clears your mind and allows you to “talk” to a higher power.
• Social health-GO OUT! If you have a significant other, go for a walk, go to a park. Go do something. Have a great circle of friends, go for a night out on the town, or stay in and play a game. Interaction is a key part to the health.
• Physical health-this is the easiest one! Work out. Go for a run/walk. GET EXERCISE!

For more information on ANY of these aspects, please feel free to email us at info@nintemanfitness.com. We will send you more information so you can stay healthy in all the areas of wellness.