WEEK #1: THE CHALLENGE BEGINS! It's finally here, the day you've all be waiting for, the official start of our 2015 CruzFit Team Fitness Challenge!

     

WEEK #1: THE CHALLENGE BEGINS!

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It's finally here, the day you've all be waiting for, the official start of our 2015 CruzFit Team Fitness Challenge!

Now it's time to get your exercise habits in gear and start recording your daily minutes of exercise in your exercise-tracker file. Remember, you're targeting a minimum average of 150-minutes per week over the next 8 weeks.

Why 150-minutes per week?

That's a great question! We've chosen 150-minutes/week as the minimum goal in order to educate and accustom people to the US Dept of Health & Human Services' (derived from the American College of Sports Medicine, ACSM) recommended minimum amount of physical activity for healthy adults. According to these experts' published 2008 Physical Activity Guidelines for for Americans,

2008 PA Guidelines

"For substantial health benefits, adults should do at least 150 minutes (2 hours and 30 minutes) a week of moderate-intensity...aerobic activity. Aerobic activity should be performed in episodes of at least 10 minutes, and preferably, it should be spread throughout the week."

So, what's "moderate-intensity" aerobic activity?

Another great question! There's no specific exercises that qualify as moderate-intensity, because intensity is relative to your fitness level. What might be low-intensity for one person may qualify as high-intensity for another. Referring to the experts and their published guidelines,

"Moderate-intensity activity requires a medium level of effort. On a scale of 0 to 10, where sitting is 0 and the greatest effort possible is 10, moderate-intensity activity is a 5 or 6 and produces noticeable increases in breathing rate and heart rate."

Hopefully this info helps you to better understand the whole purpose of the CruzFit Challange and the goals we challenge you to achieve. May you find extra motivation in knowing that the development of consistent fitness routines and habits will help speed you along towards optimal health and well-being for all of your years ahead!

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This Week's CRUZFIT FITNESS FREEBIE!

Come celebrate the start of this year's CruzFit Challenge with us at this fun and FREE kick-off event. The generous and healthy-minded folks at Whole Foods Market are excited to support our 2015 challenge, and so they're going to be giving away FREE green smoothies and other prizes at their booth outside the OPERS Wellness Center this Tuesday. See the coupon below for more info and instructions on how to take advantage of this week's CruzFit Fitness Freebie.

coupon 2015 smoothies
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FITNESS TIP #1: Goal Setting for the New Year

SMART Goals Image

With a new year comes new resolutions. Setting goals is a perfect way to help you be successful with your resolutions. Follow the guidelines below to improve your chances for success!

1. Set both short-term and long-term goals. Your long-term goal can be something that you will reach in 1 month, 6 months or 12 months. Your short-term goals should be smaller, easier goals that are stepping stones to helping you reach your long term goal. An example of a long-term goal would be "Finish a half-marathon", while an example of a short-term goal would be "Run for 30-minutes on at least 3 days this week".

2. Set up rewards. The value and size of your rewards should be relative to the goals you set (i.e. big rewards for long-term goals and smaller rewards for short-term goals). They should also align with your goals and not be counter-productive. For example, if your goal is to lose 10 pounds, an appropriate reward would be to buy a new outfit, while an inappropriate reward would be to eat a hot fudge sundae.

3. Use the SMART goals method. The SMART method makes it easier to know if you have achieved your goal. When you write your goals, make sure they contain the following information:

S - Specific

Make sure the goal is clear, not general (i.e. "Lose 5lbs", rather than "lose weight").

M - Measurable

Can you measure where you are now and where you want to be? (hint: "appearance" is hard to measure)

A - Attainable

It should challenge you without being out of reach.

R - Relevant

Is it important to you? Is it something you can do?

T - Timely

When do you want to complete this goal? Give yourself a deadline.

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A Few Other Reminders & Resources:

1) ACTIVITY TRACKING - Make sure you start tracking your daily activity in your Exercise-Tracker file in Google Docs. If you don't yet have one, talk to your team captain, who was given instructions on how to create it and share it with you.

2) FAQ's - Check out the FAQ pages in the CruzFit Section of our FitLife Website for answers to all your questions about CruzFit!

3) INVITE YOUR FRIENDS - It's not too late for them to form a team and participate. Team registration will remain open until Friday, Jan. 30th, so tell them not to delay. The more people who participate, the more fun the program will be, and the healthier your UCSC community will be!

4) STAY UPDATED - Keep up to date on CruzFit news & happenings by following UCSC FitLife on our Facebook page and Twitter feed, and by joining our newsletter mailing list!

5) JOIN LATE & NEED TO CATCH UP? - If you jumped on the CruzFit bandwagon a little late into the game, you may want to catch-up on some of the useful info you missed:

"Welcome to CruzFit" Email
"Exercise-Tracker Tips & Info" Email
"Introducing Team Leaderboards!" Email

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THANK YOU to all of this year's CruzFit sponsors:

UCSC FitLife, UCSC Employee Wellness, Physicians Medical Group, Whole Foods Market, The Print Gallery
College 8 Senate, College 9 Senate, College 10 Senate, Cowell College Senate, Crown College Senate, Merrill Student Government, Oakes College Senate, Stevenson Student Council

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FitLife is a program of the Office of P.E., Recreation, & Sports (OPERS)

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