"I Need Your Advice."

"Joey, I Need Your Advice."

This is one of the most frequent emails that I get - on a daily basis. And I love it.
But - I dont have the time or tools to respond to all the emails I get - but I still want to help and guide you.

I have tons of info to write and share but I need to be sure it gets to you and is ALWAYS accessible for you to use.

... This is a subject I touched on a few weeks ago [see 'The End of Joey Atlas???' in the Previous Post section over on the right--->>]

-- and I've been working hard at coming up with the perfect solution - and I found it, read on...

If you remember, I mentioned the monthly newsletter/DVD/CD program - being the solution for giving you what you need to stay on the path of fitness success.

Lots of you have sent me incredible feedback on this concept along with things you would find helpful.

Well, I stayed up very late a couple of nights looking at what would be required to really make this work for everyone. I looked at EVERY aspect, content, cost, delivery, accessiblity, etc, etc.

My main goal with this is to provide you with a constant resource to turn to for ongoing fitness advice, coaching, guidance and fuel for motivation - all at a cost that makes it extremely affordable to anyone - and in the age of $3.95 coffees - I have the ultimate solution.

Because we live in the age of the internet - there are many tools available to us that remove many obstacles and barriers to communication that would prevent my grand solution from being a reality.

Instead of actually sending a printed newsletter and audio CDs on a monthly basis I am building an interactive website that will allow for so much more information to be passed along at a minimal cost compared to the actual physical pieces needing to be produced and shipped.

The website is under construction and here is just some of what will be available to members, US AND International.

- Beginner, Intermediate and Advanced fitness areas with exercise/workout photos and instructions - lots of variety here including dumbbell workouts & exercises.

- Strength, Toning, Fat loss, weight control, cardio, stretching & flexibility articles and audio segments.

- Nutrition articles, Supermarket product picks with photos and label analysis, quick and easy fitness recipes, & weight management strategies.

- An active member forum for Q & A, advice, sharing fitness & nutrition ideas & strategies, looking for local exercise partners, etc, etc. and most of all, constant SUPPORT and fuel for motivation.

- Articles on workout variations, goal setting, staying commited, creating a fitness schedule, travel fitness, outdoor fitness.

- Audio interviews with top health and fitness professionals.

- Access to the complete 'Blow-Torch Diet - 30 day to Life' plan with variation suggestions for vegans, allergies, etc.

- Fitness & health product reviews and recommendations.

- Guidance on modifying your personal program to fit your life.

- Inspirational articles to fuel your motivation.

- Commentary and analysis on top fitness & nutrition stories and what they mean to you.

Thats just some of what will be made available to all members - lots more to come but cant fit it all here - its going to be incredible. Lots of work for me to do - but I am excited about it as it is going to help so many people learn about and achieve fitness success.

It should be ready to go live in January - just in time for everybody's New Years Resolution.

To give you an idea of the concept here are a few sites in different subject areas that are utilizing the same technology for a membership based, interactive, web-magazine & coaching site:

Personal Assistant Pro

Dog Training

Underground Strength Coach!

Fit Golf For Women

6 Weeks To Soccer Magic

Of course our site will be all fitness, nutrition and health - and its going to be a bit better than those sites above - - > Stay tuned & feel free to post your comments below or send me an email at Joey@JoeyAtlas.com

Get More Done By Reducing Stress

You’re sitting at your desk, trying to concentrate on work that needs to get done. But your hips are stiff, your back aching and your neck and shoulder area is getting tighter by the minute. These signals of stress build up diminish your ability to focus on the task at hand, resulting in additional stress.

As a silent enemy of productivity, stress can affect employees at any level in any position, regardless of the type of work being performed.

There are mental exercises that can help reduce stress and there are physical exercises that can do the same. However, by combining mental and physical exercises, the synergy between the two methods will give you better results in a shorter amount of time.

Taking ten minutes to ‘stretch & massage’ the body and mind, once or twice a day, can go a long way in keeping stress levels in a manageable zone.

Try the following ‘StressBusters’ to reset your body and refocus your mind:

- Close the door and play some light classical or new age music. Calm and instrumental is the key here.

- Shut off all other distractions (just for 10 minutes!), such as your cell phone, pager or television.

- Lie down on the floor, face up (an exercise mat would come in handy, but not absolutely necessary), arms out to the side, legs down – do this for 2 minutes.

- Pull your knees into your chest, wrap your arms around your shins & hold for 45 seconds.

- Turn over, face down. Put your hands under shoulders and push your upper body off the floor while keeping your hips and legs down on the floor & hold for 45 seconds.

- Stand up and put your hands behind your head with fingers interlocked. Slowly tilt your chin toward your chest and gently push forward with your hands. Keep your posture upright and you should feel a tension-releasing stretch in your neck, upper back and shoulders & hold for 30 seconds.

As an added bonus, this little routine will also give you an energy boost. Consult with your physician if you are unsure of your ability to do these stress reduction exercises.

As a preventive measure, this simple routine can be done at the start of your day, mid-day and mid-afternoon.

It’s a medical conclusion that stress can kill, unless you kill it first. Take a few minutes a day to manage your stress and give yourself the needed boost for productivity.


Conquer Stress, Depression & Anxiety

300 Breakthrough Stress Relief Tips

(c) 2006 Joey Atlas - All rights reserved.

Have a stress free & Happy Thanksgiving !

Joey Atlas
- The Fitness Shaman

The End of Joey Atlas???

-->>
-->>
---->>> I Dont Think So !!

But it was a passing thought last week & then I just laughed it off and moved forward.

Here is how the thought came about.

Most of you may remember me mentioning the launch of the 'Fit For The Holidays' - 2006 Fitness Coaching program just a few weeks ago - many of you raised your hands & sent emails to say "Joey, count me in if you offer the program."

Well, with the big response from so many people wanting this type of coaching for this Holiday season - It was something I decided I would offer & was really looking forward to it - as it is obviously one of the most 'fitness challenging' times of year.

Anyway, I put together the website for it - http://www.HolidayFitnessSuccess.com & as I promised, I sent notice to all Joey Atlas DVD Clients/Customers first, to give first chance at the 96 spots that were open for this prorgam...

- and then I sent notice to the entire Secrets of a Trainer e-newsletter subscriber list because there were still about 2/3 of the spots left open - which sort of puzzled me - but I moved forward.

So - there were 96 spots available.
- about 6,000 customers emailed
- about 67,500 subscribers emailed

- all 96 spots should have been filled based on these numbers alone - but knowing how many people gave an early indication of interest in this type of program - told me that it would fill up very quickly.

To my surprise - when all was said and done - not even half the spots had been taken.

Now - after brainstorming the program, putting the website together, outlining the content, figuring out all the logistics and sending out all the emails - and then having only a handful of people sign up - the old Joey would have been cursing Brooklyn style and I'd have kicked at least one desk upside down... & the cursing and all that goes with it would have lasted about a day or two.

But the old Joey wasn't around - the new Joey was here...

I had an idea about what had been happening as all of this was unfolding - so I decided to follow my hunches... (I just got up to make my early afternoon CoCoChino - I'll tell you what this is in the future.)

I'm back ->> For internet based writers and marketers - email deliverability is a very big problem. Spam filters & email blockers have minds of their own - and emails we dont want to receive get thru, while junk & spam emails do - this happens to me every day.

So, I've known for a while that a certain % of my emails/newsletters dont get thru to many subscribers and customers. I figured this had something to do with what happened last week ---> so looking further into my email/newsletter records and speaking directly with a bunch of customers & subscribers I was able to learn that a very, very large % of those emails regarding the Fit For The Holidays program did not make it to the intended recipients.

When I was able to actually calcualte the best estimate - I was shocked and I thought to myslef, "Is this the end of Joey Atlas?" - hence the title of today's newsletter.

So instead of reverting to my old coping mechanisms - I just sat back and started to think of a better solution. - I looked at the whole picture:

- Why I need/want to communicate with you.
- My interest in writing and sharing what I write with all who want to read it.
- The great number of you who find inspiration, direction, guidance and all that kind of good stuff that you guys email me about.

I also spoke with one of my business coaches about turning this problem into a better solution. One of the great questoins he asked was, "For the people that do get it - is your email newsletter enough for them - or do they want more - do they send questions requests or comments about the things they want to know more of or need more help with?"

Of course my answer was a big "YES".

So this put me on the path of finding a way to communicate with you in a more interactve way AND most importantly, gets my information to you with no obstacles, no mistakes & no overzealous spam filters, etc.

Let me digress here... In my 'investigation' of how many of my newsletters have been, and have not been, getting delivered - I learned that many issues of the e-newsletter barely made it to 10% of all customers & subscribers in some instances.

Now, when I write I write to you, the individual - and when I learned that many of you - haven't received a bunch of some of my best enewsletters - it was a little disheartening. --> So, back to where I left off...

Many of you who have emailed me in the past several months about the monthly 'Fitness Insider' concept have sent in some incredible ideas that many others are also interested in.

My current brainstorming state is focused on a monthly type of program that allows me to get everything I write into your hands regardless of what the 'email gods' are doing out there. And also allow s for a better level of interactivity - ie, questions answered, case studies, helpful tools for fitness and nutrition - and much more - such as a community forum, where you can interact with other members to exchange ideas, find local exercise partners, or like minded fitness friends, fitness recipes, health experiences, tips - advice, etc.

A membership site is the forerunner in this race for what idea is going to allow you to get the info I want to share with you, which is priority number one. If I go this route, the members area ('Fitness Insider Monthly' or something like that)will also include all of my articles - past and future, audio interviews with other health, fitness and nutrition experts, audio interviews with you as a case study/success story, video segments on various topics, fitness measuring and monitoring tools - and lots of other great stuff


Now, I'm sure you are thinking "What is this & how does it work?"

In short, its a deep, interactive, continuously updated website loaded with very helpful fitness & nutrition content, JOEY ATLAS STYLE, in several formats. The only way to access this type of site is by becoming a member - and by becoming a member you DO NOT MISS ANYTHING I WANT TO SHARE WITH YOU.

Now, please keep in mind, this is not definite, I'm still in the brainstorming stage for 'the solution'. It is a large undertaking that would require several months of 'nose to the grindstone' preparation and lots of detail work. But here is the good news...

I've seen many membership sites out there in many different industries - and the monthly cost on many of them is quite prohibitive to most people - $95, 145, even $495 per month on some of them - obviously these companies operate these types of sites for profit as a priority - which I have no problem with.

But - my # 1 priority is to stay in contact with you to help you achieve health & fitness success. Of course, I cant build and run a membership site for free - as they are quite costly because of all the capabilites built into them - but I certainly wouldnt plan on a $95 per month membership fee.

The monthly rate for the site that I envision for you would be around the $15 - $30 per month range, maybe more, maybe less. But the value would be worth so much more than that as it would be set up to help you handle your most pressing health and fitness challenges - and the interactivity would be something you just cant put a value on (I'm a member of a business coaching program that is in one of those higher price ranges - and its one of the best self help investments I make on a monthly basis.)

Again this is preliminary but eminent - a new solution must be implemented. Yes - all of my current websites will still be free to the public, of course, and I may still do the free 'Secrets of a Trainer' e-newsletter - just not as often.

But most of my energy will go into 'the solution' - whether its a membership. site or an actual printed & mailed monthly newsletter & audio CD combo package or something else.

Well, that is it for now. My aplogies to all who did not get the 'Fit For The Holidays' emails --->> But sometimes these are the types of 'life's imperfections' that lead to better things...

Feel free to send your thoughts, feedback, comments & questions about all of this to me at Joey@JoeyAtlas.com - Let me know what you think about possible solutions mentioned in this post and what other things you would like to see included.

Be Fit !
Joey Atlas - The Fitness Shaman
- I promised to get some more pics on the blog, as many of you loved the one on the post below this one - This one is a little outdated & Ill get some more recent ones in the next week or two - but these are our other 2 'little rascals' - Alexa and JoJo.

'Fitness News Updates' - Nov 6th - 2006

Here is this week's 'Fitness News Updates':

1) My 2 segments on 'The Morning Show' - WJXT Jacksonville Ch 4 went very well - so far I only have one uploaded to the main Joey Atlas website - to see it just click on 'Media Room' below:

- then click on 'Media Room'
- scroll down to 'TV Appearances' & click on '11/05/06'
- it will play automatically in Windows Media Player - (it won't work with Firefox)

- the other segment on 'Holiday Weight Gain' will be uploaded in a few days...

---> This week's live issue of 'Secrets of a Trainer' (to be sent on Friday) will be my take on being a guest on TV - the tricks, the challenges & the satisfaction.

2) Good News - It looks like the 2006 Holiday Fitness Coaching Program will be a reality.

The official title will be 'Fit For The Holidays' - the official website & sign up page is almost done & the first teleconference 'meeting' should be set for Thursday evening, Nov. 16th - at 9pm EST & will last about an hour -- lots more info to come - stay tuned.

The Bad News - spots will be limited to 96 'students'.

-- Joey Atlas customers/clients (over 5700 worldwide!) will get first option (in the next day or two)

-- If any spots are left - all newsletter subscribers (over 65,000 worldwide!) will be notified and offered remaining spots.

3) As always, a sincere 'thank you' to everyone who sent me their success story last week or over the weekend - I read them ALL so keep 'em coming !

Oh - and please feel free to pass this email on to anyone who will get something out of it.

Don't Be Like Everybody Else... Be Fit !

- I had to put this photo of Baby Darah here - I couldn't resist - I came across it as I was looking for a good one to post on the Blog today. As you can see she is 'eating her veggies' - she's a little older now (over 2 years old!) - so I'll get some updated photos for the next blog - and of course I'll have to get the other angels in here too - JoJo and Alexa - so stay tuned.




Joey Atlas - The Fitness Shaman

'Secrets of a Trainer' Fitness E-newsletter - Nov 3rd 2006

OK - it's been a busy day here in JoeyVille - before I get into the 'trans fat' topic - I just have to say - even though I write 'please excuse any typos' at the end of most of my enewsletters - some of those typos give me a good freakin' laugh. Yes, I read my own newsletter - because its very different than typing it and sending - reading it is a different mindset - and I want to 'see' what you are seeing on your end...

Anyway - back to the 'trans fat' issue - I'm gonna keep this simple - so here is the scoop.

Trans-fats kill. Just read this:

Top nutritionists at Harvard have stated as follows:

'By our most conservative estimate, replacement of partially hydrogenated fat in the U.S. diet with natural unhydrogenated vegetable oils would prevent approximately 30,000 premature coronary deaths per year, and epidemiologic evidence suggests this number is closer to 100,000 premature deaths annually.'

30,000 to 100,000 premature deaths each year means between 82 and 274 each day! - and these are conservative numbers which translates to 'the actual numbers are even higher'.

Now - this is just talking about death caused by trans fats - nothing about fatal diseases that may be caused by them...

Kraft Foods eliminated trans fat from Oreos and reduced or eliminated it in about 650 other products as the result of a 2003 law suit.

On October 30, 2006, KFC announced that it is converting all of its 5,500 restaurants in the United States to a 'zero grams' trans fat cooking oil. The new oil, a low linolenic soybean oil, will replace the partially hydrogenated soybean oil in current use in KFC restaurants. The conversion, which follows over two years of extensive testing of oil options to identify the same taste profile, has already begun in many KFC restaurants and is scheduled to be completed by the end of April 2007 nationwide.

I show you these examples of 'change' because there is a message in these examples (there are many more - and alot more info on the topic). The message is this - You can't hide the truth.

So, however painful or costly the changes these large companies have implemented have been - its a sign that the hydrogenated and partially hydrogenated oils they were using in foods do in fact have detrimental, even fatal effects on health -

So - it all comes back to my Science of Logic and Common Sense - if you put a chemically altered substance in the body - things will happen.

The more there is the worse the effect. Yes - some people can life a long life with a horrible diet and no exercise - but those people are not the norm, they are just lucky.

But we dont want to leave our health and fitness to 'luck' - we want to control it and optimize it. A key way to do that is by looking for trans fats on food labels and inquiring at restaurants about their cooking methods (especially their frying methods, but we don't eay mauch fried food anyway, right?) and keeping them out of your body.

For more info check out www.BanTransFat.com

Tons more great info at the site than I can even imagine putting in this newsletter - but at least I can point you in the direction of 'enlightenment' - its up to you to take action.

Enjoy the weekend &...

Don't Be Like Everybody Else... Be Fit !

Joey Atlas - The Fitness Shaman
http://www.JoeyAtlas.com