Bonus Bucks!

Shopping for the holidays? Check out this offer from Richmond Balance:

If you purchase a gift certificate for a friend or family member, Richmond Balance will match 20% of your purchase with "Bonus Bucks" that can be spent on various items at the gym!

Bonus Bucks can be used on your own membership, additional personal training sessions, waters, Gatorade and merchandise.

Annual Gym Membership: $687.00
Bonus Bucks: $137.00

6-Pack of Personal Training: $390.00
Bonus Bucks: $78.00

12-Pack of Personal Training: $720.00
Bonus Bucks: $144.00

Want to know more? Give us a call at: 804.343.1234

We're going Rock Climbing!

Join us at 9:45 am on Saturday, December 12 at Peak Experiences Climbing Center.

We’ll spend 90 minutes climbing and having fun together. Peak Experiences is one of the largest indoor wall-climbing facilities on the east coast. There are a number of different walls to choose to climb depending on your preference and skill level.

Come on out! The cost is only $25.00 and includes a harness, all the necessary climbing gear, and a certified belayer (the person who stands at the bottom of the wall and holds the ropes).

Give us a call at the gym so we can add your name to the list, 804.343.1234
Bring a friend!

5 lb. Challenge!

Just a couple weeks until Thanksgiving and a little bit more than a month until Christmas and Hanukkah!

Regardless of which holidays you celebrate, there's no denying that all kinds of sweet and savory treats will abound.

So, in the spirit of both celebrating and staying healthy, Richmond Balance is hosting its annual 5lb weight challenge!

Here's how it works: coming into the gym during staffed hours the week of November 15-21 to "weigh in" with a Richmond Balance staff member. We'll record your pre-holiday weight. Then, after the dust settles from New Year's, come back during the week of January 2-8 and if you've lost 5lbs, you win a free membership for the month of February!

Come sign up today!

October-Breast Cancer Awarenes Month

Hi everyone,

Did you know it’s Breast Cancer Awareness Month?

During October, individuals, businesses and corporations everywhere are raising funds, awareness, and remembering those in our lives who have been or are affected by breast cancer.

This year, I am personally more aware of breast cancer than I have ever been as I celebrate my aunt’s successful fight after having been diagnosed with abnormal cell growth in her breast, several months ago.

Chances are, you have a story too about someone whose life has been affected because of breast cancer.

So, in support of the fight against breast cancer, Richmond Balance is donating a portion of all new membership fees to the Virginia Breast Cancer Foundation. Each new member also has the option to make their contribution in honor of or in memory of someone.

There is much that we can do to help fight this global battle of breast cancer!

Prevention
Breast cancer prevention is real and important. Women should perform self-examanations monthly and report any abnormalities to a doctor immediately. Cancer is most treatable in its earliest stages, so knowing your body and being able to detect any breast differences (shape, masses, discolorizations) is crucial. Women over the age of 40 should get yearly mammograms too. Check out this page on the American Cancer Society’s webpage to learn more: http://www.cancer.org/docroot/CRI/content/CRI_2_6x_How_to_perform_a_breast_self_exam_5.asp
Diet and Exercise
Being a gym, of course we have to say something about eating healthy and working out, right? Right! But it just so happens that eating well and getting regular exercise plays a vital role in lowering your risk for all kinds of cancer.

The following is recognized as important elements in cancer prevention:

Eating lots of fruits and veggies: at least 5 servings a day!
Avoiding unprotected sunlight for long periods of time: Put your sunscreen on!
Keep alcohol consumption to a minimum: Not only good for cancer prevention but also cutting out calories that make it hard to drop pounds!
Make sure you’re getting at least 30 minutes of heart-pumping exercise 5 days a week: Come check out our treadmills-they’re really nice!

This month is the perfect time to get healthy and be part of doing something to make sure others stay healthy too. Learn more and make a difference by giving us a call at 804.343.1234

Did You Know?

For your enjoyment, a few very random facts about food, health and fitness.

There are 206 bones in the human body. 25% of them are in your feet.

A 12-ounce can of soda can contain as much as 13 teaspoons of sugar! That’s an entire day’s worth of sugar!

The first marathon allegedly took place in 489 BC, when a messenger ran from the town of Marathon to Athens to warn them of an attack.

The average person’s body holds 1.3 gallons of blood.

In one study, peppermint was shown to make people feel more energized after working out.

The best time to shop for shoes is in the aternoon; your feet swell during the day, so a pair that felt right in the morning may be tight in the afternoon

The pigment in spinach leaves can be used to make ink.

Apples are fat, sodium, and cholestrol free.

Chili

In celebration of fall (and because I like it so much), I’m posting a chili recipe. I had my first bowl of seasonal chili last week and I’m hoping to eat many more!

I know lots of people have a chili recipe that has been passed down from a family member or perfected over time. If you are this person, I admire you and hope you’ll share your secrets to perfect chili with me.

On the other hand, if you’re like me and don’t have a personalized recipe, you may want to check out the one below.Not only is this is a healthy recipe but a fast one too! The nutritional info is at the bottom.
It’s a white chili, which means it doesn’t use the traditional tomato base. Instead, it calls for white beans, chicken (or turkey), broth and a medley of spices. If your tastebuds can handle it, it's not a bad idea to throw some spice from chili peppers in too. Some studies have shown that spicy food speeds up your metabolism and can help you burn more calories.

Remember, there are no rules for making chili so spice it up, top it off with a dollop of yogurt, add some veggies or crush whole wheat tortilla chips in it. Anything goes!

Let me know what you think in the comment box below. Enjoy.

White Chili- taken from http://www.eatingwell.com/

Ingredients
1 tablespoon canola oil
1 1/2 cups chopped onion
2 4-ounce cans chopped green chiles
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/8-1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
3 15-ounce cans great northern beans, rinsed
4 cups reduced-sodium chicken broth
4 cups diced cooked skinless turkey, or chicken
2 tablespoons cider vinegar

Preparation
Heat oil in a large pot or Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add onion; cook, stirring occasionally, until softened, about 5 minutes. Stir in chiles, oregano, cumin and cayenne. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes. Stir in beans and broth; bring to a simmer. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 20 minutes. Add turkey (or chicken) and vinegar; cook for 5 minutes more. Serve.

Nutrition
Per serving : 453 Calories; 6 g Fat; 2 g Sat; 2 g Mono; 68 mg Cholesterol; 44 g Carbohydrates; 44 g Protein; 9 g Fiber; 213 mg Sodium; 965 mg Potassium

Nifty Fitness Tracker

Made a cool little discovery today. If you go to this page on the WebMD website, you can measure and keep track of your health efforts. It’s super simple and even a little bit fun!

Here’s what you do:

1.Put in your personal criteria (gender, age, weight,)
2.Enter your current level of fitness
3.Select your goal (ie. Lose 1 lb. per week, maintain your current weight)

Once you’ve filled all that in, click calculate. You’ll see your results in a column on the left. It will have calculated your BMI, necessary caloric intake (based on your fitness goal), and will tell you your ideal weight and heart rate range. How cool is that?

Step 2.
This is where you check out the column on the right. You’ll see two categories, “Add a Food to Your Plan” and “Add an Activity to Your Plan”. These tools let you measure the amount of calories per food item and also give you an idea of how many calories you are burning. All you do is enter the food and/or activity and the number of calories pops up. I was impressed with the number of options in the activity box. You can calculate how many calories you’re burning while cleaning your house, sitting at your desk, or running a mile. Handy, right?

Last thing on the page are two scales that look like speedometers. The green one measures your calories from food and the orange one measure the calories from fitness. There’s also a little bar that show where you are on your daily caloric intake and lets you know how many you have left. Read: lets you know how many more scoops of ice cream you can have.

So try it out and let us know what you thought! You can leave your comments below.

Happy Fall!