ALTERA Life Newsletter
Week 4
“You become the average of the five people
you are around most often.”
We all have had that one friend who goes away on camp or on vacation for a little too long and come back talking the way the people do who are from that place. A summer in Nashville and they have a southern twang in their voice; eight weeks in Long Island and they sound like the Wolf of Wall Street. Why is that? People like fitting in, and small changes take place without us even know it. We don’t wake up one day and say, “from now on I am saying y’all.” It just…happens. You will become the average of the five people you hang around most often. This comes from some of the top business leaders of our time. So the question should not be who am I hanging around with? But what do I want to become? Because if you do not know what you want to become, then you will never know whether you are hanging with the right people. As it has been said, if you want to learn basketball, do you ask the guy who quit in 10th grade, or do you ask Michael Jordan? Want relationship advice? Uncle Ernie who has been divorced four times would be happy to tell you all of the answers.. Whoever you are around, is who you will become. I am not saying get rid of friends, but throughout this challenge you are hopefully going to make some new friends who are pursuing the same goal that you are; better health. If you continue to hang out with people who are saying things like, “come on, just one won’t kill you! or come on, football is on, everyone eats wings during football season!” then chances are reaching your goal is going to be much more unlikely. Find people with common goals and be around them as much as possible. Create a strong foundation for yourself and chances are your “other” friends will follow you, not the other way around. I have heard, “hang out with friends that share a common future, not a common past.” Decide what you want that future to look like and find the people who will help get you there; not hold you back. Remember, we are always here for you!
Exercise of the Week: Shoulder Press 
Once again referring to the push up and how common it is, along with the infamous bench press, this takes away focus on the much important shoulders. Building a nice set of shoulders is the key to strength in other exercises, not to mention one of the most noticeable features when looking at the human “frame”. An awesome upper body without shoulders is like a tree without branches. It creates the look you want and gives you the strength where needed. Because the traps are so close to your delts (shoulders) they are most commonly abused during this exercise. Therefore, use the mirrors to help ensure that you are keeping your traps down and using your shoulders to press the weight.
The important things to note about performing a shoulder press correctly are:
- Keep your core engaged; all of the weight is above your head
- Disengage your traps and use your delts (drop weight if necessary)
- From a side view, you should be pressing straight up; not forward nor backwards
More on the Shoulder Press: The most common way to perform a shoulder press is with dumbbells. (shown). You could also use a bar (military press), or sit down either way to take away some of the added stability. The rep should be controlled during the entire range of motion. So many people cheat their range of motion and then when weight is added and they dip into the area rarely worked they end up injured.. The shoulder muscles are not overly huge, and the interior shoulder muscles (rotator cuff) are very small. Be sure to drop weight and strengthen the shoulder throughout the entire range of motion and from all different angles.
Nutritional Tip:
Eat your fruit first.
Fruit is one of the most amazing foods put on this planet. Just seeing it in nature draws your eye near and makes your mouth start to water. However, the way we eat fruit these days has ruined some of the beauty and actually turned people away from it. Many people suffer from heart burn or acid reflux after they eat many fruits or feel bloated. Try always eating your fruit first and waiting as long as you can until you eat anything else. The reason is behind how fast your body metabolizes fruit. Fruit is digested extremely fast. Therefore, if you eat a meat prior that takes a much longer time to break down, the fruit gets digested but has no place to go. Therefore, it ferments and causes the acid symptoms we are all familiar with. So next time you are served fruit with a meal, eat it first. If you have fruit on its own, give it a little time before you put anything animal-based into your mouth. We guarantee over time this will help with enjoying the true benefits of fruit.
“What does your ALTERA Life look like?”
ALTERA Life, LLC
www.alteralife.com
cforce@alteralife.com