By Paden Hughes

As we turn the corner leaving 2015 in our memories and look ahead to 2016, it’s a great time to consider new ways to challenge yourself in the new year. Even if you already have a gym family and work out consistently, here are our top 6 locally based things to consider doing to boost your health and fitness in 2016.

  1. Join a Fitness Community that Makes Working Out Fun

We love encouraging people to join fitness communities and build camaraderie around their health and fitness. If you are looking for one to join and need a promotion to incentivize you to try it out, consider these local Chamber members, many of whom are offering New Years promotions.

  1. Sign up for a Detox or Cleanse

If the New Year is a re-start for your year, then a detox is a re-set for your body. We all know the number of events and parties in the holiday season can cause us all to feel more lethargic and sometimes more bloated than we’d like to admit. The amount of sugar and processed foods we consume over the holidays certainly slows down the body. For members of our community in the business world, we all know the struggles of taking time to drink water, time snacks throughout the day and schedule lunch meetings at locations with healthy alternatives. After a year of jammed packed schedules, it’s important to give your body a break from unhealthy habits and clean your system out. January is a great time of year to clean out your body and get back into a healthier lifestyle. If you’d like to join a group cleanse or detox and get support and recipes throughout the program, check out these Chamber members’ programs.

  1. Commit to a Race Event in 2016 and Join a Team

One adventurous way to try something new is to sign up for a race, marathon or adventure with a team of other motivated people. If you are an owner of a company or manager of a team, one of the best team building events is competing in a team event. Think of all the training, combined motivation and encouragement that occurs when you bond together to achieve a physical goal. One of the reasons you often see management retreats and leadership retreats incorporate physical and mental challenges is that it truly bonds a group together. There are so many powerful takeaways when you engage at a physical dimension with co-workers.

Here is a list of local special event organizers who are putting together teams you can join to compete with a group. You may want to connect with a local gym to see if they provide group training to get your team in shape for your event, local or not. Check out these gyms: (and local gyms.

  1. Evaluate Your Movement Capabilities and What You Need to Work On

Every one of us, particularly if you work a “white collar job” walks into a gym with movement dysfunctions. I’ve heard it said that the average American spend 2/3 of our life at our work. Most of us sit at computers or in meetings and so it’s safe to say we spend most of our lives sitting for hours at a time. The dangers of doing so are seen top to bottom in our bodies in the following ways:

  • gravity pulls the body down and forward
  • neck muscles overstress
  • shoulders and back muscles work overtime
  • core muscles become weak and unused
  • glutes lengthen and hamstrings shorten

These dysfunctions cause us pain in common areas like our knees or lower back, but sometimes we aren’t aware of dysfunctions that could cause more harm in the future if not corrected. If you want an opportunity to analyze your body, learn your areas of greatest success and see where you can improve, check out these local services.

slochamber.org/Health-and-Fitness

slochamber.org/Physical-Therapists

slochamber.org/Chiropractors

  1. Integrate Technology into Your Workouts to Track Your Success

One of the big trends right now in fitness is integrating wearable technology and metrics into your fitness regime. At Gymnazo we are big fans of heart rate monitoring. We know studies show that if you can maintain your max heart rate at a certain percentage for more than 30 minutes you jumpstart your metabolism for the next 24-48 hours. We also know that heart rate monitoring individualizes your workout and gives the coach insight into how hard you are working. Many businesses encourage health monitoring for their employees because the new wearable technology (like fitbit, MYZONE or apple watch) gamify health in an addicting way that ultimately leads to healthier and happier employees.

  1. Discover Which Foods or Hormone Imbalances Make You Sick or Overweight

It’s disheartening when you workout consistently, try to eat a clean diet and still feel like you need to lose weight and feel good again. Sometimes this could be an indication that you have food intolerances you need to avoid or perhaps you have hormone imbalances. I recommend asking a trust fitness center, wellness center, chiropractic office etc. whether they offer food intolerance testing like a Pinner Test or hormonal testing.  The results can clarify issues you have been battling and frustrated with for years.

slochamber.org/Chiropractors

slochamber.org/Health-and-Fitness

2016 is going to be a great year and the San Luis Obispo health and fitness community is excited to partner with all locals to help them hit their goals. Whether your goals are to lose more weight, or finish a race you never thought you could, there are many local professionals that can help you hit those milestones!

All our best in 2016!

Paden Hughes, is the owner of Gymnazo, a San Luis Obispo-based facility focused on small group, private and elite training.