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AIMC Entrepreneur Tip - Business Ownership, Sales

4 Ways to Shake Up Your Fall Fitness

When it comes to getting serious about fitness + healthy goals, most people think of January 1^st as the only window you have to hit “reset” on your habits + routine, but why wait? The truth is, Fall is a great time to recommit to fitness goals or finally break that plateau with a set of exciting new exercises. As the weather changes, let the cool, crisp air breathe some new life into your usual routine with these 4 ways to shake up your Fall fitness!

Autumn is the transition from the busyness of summer to a more focused “back-to-school” vibe that you can still harness to refocus your energy and get back to you. This is a unique opportunity to set a routine that’ll carry you through the indulgent holidays and into the new year ahead of the curve! Since late fall gives us plenty of tempting reasons to stay inside—shorter, darker days and treats galore—getting your momentum before the holidays are in full swing is crucial! If you’re ready to tackle fall fitness like a pro, we’re here to help.

1. Take Advantage of the Outdoors

Without the heat and humidity that made summer workouts hard to stick to, outdoor workouts become much more comfortable as Fall rolls in. Especially after a hectic summer + back-to-school season, many of us are ready to get back to some sort of routine and Fall weather brings us some of the some of the best opportunities to take that long, awful treadmill session outside in the beautiful scenery!

Bonus: did you know that taking your Fall fitness outdoors actually has a number of benefits over sticking to your gym schedule? Whether you’re hitting the long trail or choosing to make exercise productive by taking on yard work, there are numerous benefits including:

• Logging a harder workout: According to the American Council on Exercise, when you’re active outdoors your body is encountering a constantly changing environment. Keeping up requires your body to adapt need to all of the small changes in your surroundings like slight inclines, wind, or obstacles which means you work harder than if you were running on a treadmill!
• No Membership Fees: With the holiday season right around the corner, wouldn’t it be great if Fall fitness didn’t add to the financial stress? With outdoor workouts, all you need is you!
• Cleaner Air: While gyms (at least the good ones!) have decent ventilation systems that keep the air moving, those indoor systems still can’t provide the same clean air as the great outdoors! According to the Environmental Protection Agency, indoor spaces can be more polluted than outside. This is especially true in larger cities, which only adds to the list of pros.

2. Change When You #FindYourFit

Summer heat and early sunlight pushed many of us to earlier morning workouts, but this is more difficult when it comes to Fall fitness. Since the sun gets to wait until closer to 8 a.m. to wake up, it might be a good time for you to do the same! Working out at different times, whether it be over your lunch break or after work, will help to not only give you a much-needed break from super early mornings but can also help in getting your body out of its normal routine. Just make sure you’ve got your Isotonix ®Turn Down to help you slip into a restful sleep afterward! Switching it up has been shown to help break the mental and physical plateaus that hold us back, and seeing those results can be a great motivator.

3. Hop on the Treadmill (or Off of It!)

If you’re a cardio junkie (guilty!) then it’s time to take a brief hiatus from the treadmill, stair climber, or elliptical that’s been holding you hostage. Incorporating resistance or strength training will do wonders for shaking up your Fall fitness. Plus, the burn you get from strength training lasts much longer than the one from your LSS cardio session and you’ll see improvements in your overall body composition. Hello, little black holiday dress!

Don’t think that just because you hate cardio to begin with that you’re off the hook!  Shaking up Fall fitness means this also applies to people whos idea of cardio is running from the treadmill.  Taking a step back from the barbell to work in one or two days of cardio might be just what you need to trick your adapted body + brain into stepping it up!

4. Get Creative with Circuits

Between HIIT, tabatas, and circuit training, there are endless ways to turn your slow + methodical routine into a fast-paced + exciting heart-pounder!  Mixing different speeds + lengths of cardio with isolated and compound strength training transforms a long workout session from a simple walk into a full-body workout. Not sure where to start? Try some of the ideas below:

Outdoor Trail Circuit:

• Warm Up: Walk 10 minutes
• Easy Jog: 2-3 minutes
• Run: 2-3 minutes
• Sprint: 30-45 seconds
• Recover: Walk or jog until your breathing returns to normal.
• Strength Move: 60-90 seconds, complete as many of one of the following:
  • Push-ups
  • Triceps dips
  • One-legged squats
  • Split Squats
  • Burpees
  • Plank Hip Dips
  • Jump Squats
  • Side-to-Side Skater

This makes up one cycle! Do 4 to 6 cycles total. Be sure you’re mixing up the strength moves throughout your workout to make the most of your time!

Indoor Bodyweight Circuit: 

• Warm Up: Jump-rope 10 minutes
• Tuck Jumps: 12-15 reps
• Push-Ups: 12-15 reps
• Jumping Jacks: 45 seconds
• Rest: 30 seconds
• Air Squat: 12-15 reps
• Mountain Climbers: 12-15 reps
• High Knees: 45 seconds
• Rest 30 seconds
• Tricep Dips: 12-5 reps
• Glute Bridges: 12-15 reps
• Burpees: 45 seconds
• Rest: 30 seconds

Repeat this 3-4 times with 1 minute of rest in-between + you’ll feel the burn!

The Case for Multivitamin Supplementation by AIMC Health Solutions

How to Network at Business Conferences - Some Tips to Get Your Company Started

We are about to embark on the peak conference season here in Boston with Inbound 2019, MarTech AI World, and various technology conferences invading our amazing city this fall.    Between all of the conferences and with the thousands of college students coming into town, Boston will be bustling!

So far, when we have provided business networking tips in our recent blogs, we have focused mostly on the attendees at networking events such as our own Mass Professional Networking events.  The way attendees go about networking at events versus companies networking at large conferences are similar but there are some differences.  The reason is at some conferences, your company may be netowrking a future client or business partner, but instead be networking with your competition.    From a 1-on-1 networking perspective, always remember that even if the person you are talking to may be your competitor, it is all about their connections, or in other words, the 2nd level connection.  Be open to discussion, be honest and up front, since you never know what the future may bring.

What I like to do now, is provide some tips for companies & sales personnel in particular on how to network at larger conferences.   The key is to engage in deep, meaningful discussions with executives from target accounts that lead to bonafide sales opportunities.

1)  Leverage Introductions from the Conference Hosts

Conference organizers maintain lists of attendees and speakers, however not all conference organizers share this information.   A way around this is to get on a sponsor list since the conference marketing personnel can introduce sponsors with attendees and you will have an easier time build your warm market and building your prospect's trust.

2)  Come Prepared - Bring the Right Stuff

Large conference offer companies in particular sponsors an opportunity to demonstrate their wares and how they can help attendees when intermingling at the networking event within the conference.   If you have access to any of your company's white papers, case studies or blogs, be ready to share with people you meet.    Don't wait to send that follow-up email.  Learn how to share information right from your device to someone on the spot.  It can open up discussion immediately.

3) Use All Networking Opportunities at the Conference

Do not retreat back to the hotel or some coffee shop to check emails during breaks or at the end of the conference day.   Depending on how the conference is organized, there are typically multiple opportunities for meeting and speaking with potential clients.  Some example of events are pre-event breakfasts, conference breaks, after conference mixers.  Some quick advice at the after conference mixer, go easy on the wine and beer, since you are setting an example of your company.

4) Utilize the Event's Mobile Application to Connect with Attendees

Most event organizers provide mobile apps for all sponsors and attendees to use to track the agenda, rate sessions, follow registered attendees on Linkedin and to see who is actively checked into the event.  This provides companies, in particularly sponsors another avenue to connect with and promote their brand to attendees and potential target accounts.

5)  Get Involved and Engage on the Keynote and Panel Topics

One of the best ways to break the ice with conference attendees and target accounts is by talking about aspects of keynote addresses or panel discussions given during the event.  It is a terrific way to make instant connections with attendees.   If you have a blog about the event or a particular session, promote it to the people you met at the event and offer your insight.  It builds trust with your new connection.

Finally, a bonus tip.  Smile and be friendly and put your phone down and be social.  That email can wait.   Networking is the #1 most effective sales tool today, so when you are at a conference, be visible, be helpful and most of all, have fun.

Business Networking 101 - How To Network At An Event

We didn't have "That Green Thing" Back in the Day, or Did We?

Checking out at the store, the young cashier suggested to the much older lady that she should bring her own grocery bags, because plastic bags are not good for the environment.
The woman apologized to the young girl and explained, "We didn't have this 'green thing' back in my earlier days."

The young clerk responded, "That's our problem today. Your generation did not care enough to save our environment for future generations."

The older lady said that she was right -- our generation didn't have the "green thing" in its day. The older lady went on to explain:
Back then, we returned milk bottles, soda bottles and beer bottles to the store. The store sent them back to the plant to be washed and sterilized and refilled, so it could use the same bottles over and over. So they really were recycled. But we didn't have the "green thing" back in our day.

Grocery stores bagged our groceries in brown paper bags that we reused for numerous things. Most memorable besides household garbage bags was the use of brown paper bags as book covers for our school books. This was to ensure that public property (the books provided for our use by the school) was not defaced by our scribblings. Then we were able to personalize our books on the brown paper bags. But, too bad we didn't do the "green thing" back then.
We walked up stairs because we didn't have an escalator in every store and office building. We walked to the grocery store and didn't climb into a 300-horsepower machine every time we had to go two blocks.

But she was right. We didn't have the "green thing" in our day.

Back then we washed the baby's diapers because we didn't have the throw away kind. We dried clothes on a line, not in an energy-gobbling machine burning up 220 volts. Wind and solar power really did dry our clothes back in our early days. Kids got hand-me-down clothes from their brothers or sisters, not always brand-new clothing.

But that young lady is right; we didn't have the "green thing" back in our day.
Back then we had one TV, or radio, in the house -- not a TV in every room. And the TV had a small screen the size of a handkerchief (remember them?), not a screen the size of the state of Montana. In the kitchen we blended and stirred by hand because we didn't have electric machines to do everything for us. When we packaged a fragile item to send in the mail, we used wadded up old newspapers to cushion it, not Styrofoam or plastic bubble wrap. Back then, we didn't fire up an engine and burn gasoline just to cut the lawn. We used a push mower that ran on human power. We exercised by working so we didn't need to go to a health club to run on treadmills that operate on electricity.

But she's right; we didn't have the "green thing" back then.

We drank from a fountain when we were thirsty instead of using a cup or a plastic bottle every time we had a drink of water. We refilled writing pens with ink instead of buying a new pen, and we replaced the razor blade in a r azor instead of throwing away the whole razor just because the blade got dull.

But we didn't have the "green thing" back then.

Back then, people took the streetcar or a bus and kids rode their bikes to school or walked instead of turning their moms into a 24-hour taxi service in the family's $45,000 SUV or van, which cost what a whole house did before the"green thing." We had one electrical outlet in a room, not an entire bank of sockets to power a dozen appliances. And we didn't need a computerized gadget to receive a signal beamed from satellites 23,000 miles out in space in order to find the nearest burger joint.

But isn't it sad the current generation laments how wasteful we old folks were just because we didn't have the "green thing" back then?

Please forward this on to another selfish old person who needs a lesson in conservation from a smart ass young person.

We don't like being old in the first place, so it doesn't take much to piss us off... Especially from a tattooed, multiple pierced smartass who can't make change without the cash register telling them how much.