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Kids have been coming up with excuses to dodge gym class for eons.

So it should come as no surprise that as adults, people have become masters at finding reasons not to exercise.

Nevertheless, New Year’s resolutions to work off those holiday cookie calories make this the most lucrative time of year for the fitness industry and personal trainers.

A nationwide survey by the research firm Barna Group in 2011 found that the bulk of New Year’s resolutions are related to weight, diet and health.

Additionally, fitness clubs sell about 12 percent of their memberships in January, the highest volume for the year, according to the International Health, Racquet and Sportsclub Association, which represents more than 10,000 fitness facilities.

But despite promises made and gym memberships paid, people still find excuses to weasel out of exercising.

“I generally see people make these resolutions and stop three weeks later,” said Dexter Tenison, owner of Memphis Adventure Boot Camp in East Memphis and Cordova.

Karen Moss, owner of Better Bodies Yoga studio in East Memphis, typically sees a jump of nearly 50 percent in clientele following New Year’s, she said.

However, fewer than half stay committed, she said.

Below, Memphis area fitness professionals offer solutions to some of the most common excuses for why people don’t work out.

Excuse: It’s too hard.

Solution: “A lot of people see (exercising) as an overwhelming thing, where you have to change every aspect of your life,” said Tenison, who has seen roughly 1,500 people of all athletic ability levels come through his boot camp program.

“People say, ‘I have to get on the treadmill an hour every day and not eat anything.’

“Make small adjustments each day. G

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Its been a little longer than usual since weve posted.  Sorry.

Between and newborn and the holidays, “life” got in the way.

But were back and ready to help you take action and achieve whatever goals you set for 2012.  Were not huge fans of New Years Resolutions we say take action whenever the time seems right.

At the same time, it does feel kind of like a “clean slate.” 

Considering we spend time each year planning for the next, we too spend some time thinking about how to make each year BETTER. 

Heres how we do it, though.  Simply thinking about goals wont work.  Even just writing them wont work.  If you only have the endpoint in mind (I will lose 50 lbs) yet no strategy to get there, youll struggle.

Rather than focusing on the end, focus on the process to get to the end.  Or, as we like to call them PROCESS Goals.

Take some time to think about these questions:

Where am I?

Where do I need to be?

What do I need to do go get there?

And now that we’ve just crossed over into 2012, the start of the year … it’s a perfect time for that check in.

An honest check in is the only way you’ll achieve and ultimately exceed your goals.

Again, we call these shorter term “goals”  — process goals – in other words, focusing on what it will take, the process, to achieve the tangible goals we set for ourselves.

Here are some examples of process goals if you’re trying to lose body fat.

1. Eat a veggie and/or fruit with every single meal.
2. Include protein with every single meal.
3. Eat breakfast daily …

The list can go on and we covered 7 more fat loss solutions in our 10 Commandments to Fat Loss blog we wrote last year.

Setting these process goals will help dictate permanent success. 

Here’s what you need to do next:

1. Set a big, seemingly unreachable goal (e.g., lose 50 lbs).
2. Break that goal into smaller, more manageable goals (lose 2 lbs/week or 8 lbs/month).
3. WRITE DOWN process based goals that will help you achieve #1 and #2 above (e.g., train 30 min/day 5 days/week or eat 1 more vegetable with every single day or include protein with each meal and snack, etc).

The beauty of the process based goals?  You can easily measure that progress.  You either hit those goals or did not.  And what they’ll do, rather than focusing on weight, body fat, etc is that when practiced daily … you will ultimately hit every single goal out of the ball park … even those seemingly “unreachable” goals.

But keep in mind you dont want to go hog wild and try to achieve too much at once.  Were all about positive thinking, but its better to focus on ONE change, achieve that then move to the next, the next, the next and so on.  Research actually shows when youre trying to change, every time you add more changes to the pile the likelihood of achieving them goes down dramatically to the point that if you think youre working on 3 things simultaneously, the likelihood of achieving ANY is practically zero. 

Scary.

So set lofty goals but work on making just 1 change and focus on it until its achieved.

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WASHINGTON — The government on Thursday said it would adopt strict new limits on using chimpanzees in medical research, after a prestigious scientific group recommended that experiments with humans’ closest relative be done only as a last resort.

The National Institutes of Health agreed that science has advanced enough that chimps seldom would be needed to help develop new medicines.

NIH Director Francis Collins temporarily barred new federal funding for research involving chimps, and said a working group will review about 37 ongoing projects involving the animals to see if they should be phased out.

Chimps’ similarity to people “demands special consideration and respect,” Collins said.

These apes’ genetic closeness to humans has long caused a quandary.

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Indias policy of targeting sex workers to control the spread of AIDS by providing contraceptives, treatment for sexually transmitted infections and raising awareness through their peers is expected to avert three million infections over two decades, the World Bank said on World AIDS day.

With 2.3 million reported cases of AIDS, India – like sub-Saharan Africa – is on the frontlines of the fight against the deadly virus.

A study by the World Bank, titled Cost Effectiveness of Targeted HIV Prevention Interventions for Female Sex Workers in India, said efforts made by Indias National AIDS Control Programme – which focuses on high risk groups such as sex workers – was paying off and an estimated three million HIV infections would be avoided thanks to this approach between 1995 and 2015. Get more…

Giorgio Armani is a symbol of style and a visionary, and he made sure that he reflected his character in his hotel, service and food. As a result, Armani Ristorante is pure, elegant and stylish, which makes it perfect for a romantic dinner. 

White furniture is an indication of high standard. Using this color in any place makes it look modern and edgy, and this is exactly how Armani Ristorante would be described. Diners will undoubtedly enjoy the luxurious and comfortable embellishment of the white and pastel furnished Italian restaurant, designed by Armani Casa.

Located on the same floor as the lobby, Armani Ristorante displays a fine and elegant reflection of the Armani hotel.

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