Easy Strength + Conditioning

The Key to Strength: Keep It Simple. 

Some of the strongest people I have met and know will tell you the same thing. When you make things more complex and difficult you will be decreasing your results. Fast chaotic exercise might have its place, but in the world of Strength & Conditioning you need to keep things simple.

It is these simple, foundational things that we can do and practice that will carry over to LARGER strength gains and better conditioning. What are some of these foundations:

• Breathing (Diaphragmatic)
• Rolling Patterns (Can you roll from your stomach to back to stomach with out using your legs?)
• Moving in Patterns (How well do you squat, deadlift, crawl, walk, climb, march, lunge, or run?)
• Sufficient Midline Crossing & Vestibular Input (Do you feed both sides of your brain?)
• Personal Mindset (Where is your head when you set and work towards goals?)

Now, understand me here. This is not EVERYTHING that should be in your training plan, but these are foundational areas of your plan that you should have down solid. People will want to disagree and many want to argue these areas. But the fact remains, people much smarter than I am taught me this all which have been proven to work! 

So where do we start, and how do you start putting these areas into your workout? Glad you asked, take a look at this simple warm up you can use before and after workouts. 

Foundations Warm Up

1. 3-5 mins of Breathing Resets: Lay on the ground on your back with your knees bent and feet flat. Put your arms flat over head. You can have your eyes open or closed, but you will have your tongue on the roof of your mouth and will take deep inhales into your belly. Relax your shoulders, keep breath going into your belly. 

2. Mindset: While you are breathing visualize your workday, your workout, or whatever is coming after this warm up. Build your mental success behind your work so all that is left to do is execute. 

3. 3-5 Rolls/Side of "Easy Rolls": Still on your back, lay flat with your arms flat overhead. Lead with your eyes, pick your head up, reach your arm across your body and try to reach opposite shoulder to opposite hip keeping your legs "paralyzed". You may or may not make it, but you are working towards rolling all the way to your belly using only your upper body. Just remember, your eyes lead your head, your head leads your shoulders, and your shoulders lead your arms. Repeat this by rolling from your belly to your back. 

4. 1-2 mins of "Marching" in Place: Come to a stand and start marching. Begin touching opposite finger tips to opposite knee. After a few reps, move to palms. Then progress to opposite wrist to opposite knee. Move to forearm, and if possible go all the way and try opposite elbow to opposite knee. If you cannot touch, do not progress.

5. 5-10 Walkouts: From your standing position, reach down to the ground and walk on your hands outward until you are at the top of your "push up plank". Finish by walking back up to your standing position. Variations: You can begin by either squatting until you can touch the ground, or do a straight leg variation and work on keep your legs straight. 

Make sure while you are working through this warm up you are continue to build on each exercise by remembering your breathing, keeping your head up  and shoulders relaxed. Keep your focus on quality over quantity. This is not to make you sore or exhausted, its to prime your nervous system and start developing your Reflexive Strength. 

Keep us in mind as you embark on your journey. We are always here to help! 

Talk Soon,

Kris

Kris@MoultonKettlebellClub.com

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Changing Your Breathing to Move Better

Have you ever thought to yourself: how many times per day am I breathing in and out? It’s not something you think about. This is because your body does and has to do it involuntarily.

Fact: You never realize how important oxygen is until you don’t have it! 

Yet, it's is extremely common to breathe incorrectly and never notice. The average number of breaths taken per day by an individual is 20,000. That’s a lot of breathing done with the improper set of muscles.

Do you have some of these symptoms?

• Tight neck and shoulders
• Frequent Headaches
• Lack Focus
• Fatigue  
• Anxious or unsettled

Breathing incorrectly may not only be the source of the above symptoms but changing your focus to breathing correctly can help begin to alleviate those issues. Breathing through the upper chest and rib cage is known as secondary or emergency breathing (the breathing used during fight or flight). Instead, we need to learn and operate out of our primary or safe breathing pattern also known as diaphragmatic breathing. Using the diaphragm to breathe (just like a newborn or infant does) changes our bodies back to the relaxed state. How many of us need to relax? We all do.

Here at Moulton Kettlebell Club, we use a system of resets from Original Strength to restore breathing back to the diaphragm. This is often the first place we begin with clients. As trainers, our number one cue to clients is to tell them to breathe! Whether they are trying to pick up something heavy or swing a kettlebell 100 times, breathing is they key to it all.

Here is a simple reset:

• Lie down on the floor on your back
• Hands out to your side palms up
• Legs straight 
• Put your tongue on the roof of your mouth
• Breathe in and out through your nose
• Repeat the above steps over and over!

It is astounding how many of us will find this challenging. 5 minutes of restoring your breathing pattern will change everything for your body. As with any exercise, the common mistake is to rush through this.

Do not rush this.

Let me repeat that. Relax. Do not rush this.

Use this time to clear the mind from the days duties and distractions. Prepare for your workout this way. Finish your workout this way. Start and end your day with this. After you get home from work. While your at work. I know I sound like a broken record but that’s how important this is for you to reach your health goal.

Changing your breathing will change your life.

Till next time,

Nathan
Nathan@MoultonKettlebellClub.com



If you have been waiting and thinking about starting, the time has come to get your head on straight. Go to Moulton Kettlebell Club and contact us to get started. The people we accept into our community get results and the care they need and deserve. Its time to get on a care program that will build you strong and healthy.

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Take the first step of being a part of our community by becoming a subscriber… SUBSCRIBE HERE, we would love to have you.

Common Issues in the Kettlebell Swing

It's a foundational movement in the strength and conditioning world. It's where all of our clients start and where most people feel their hamstrings and butt for the first time. The kettlebell swing is an amazing muscle developer, pain and rehab exercise, sport performance drill, and fat burning sensation. It is a one size fits all exercise... 

It is also an inch wide, mile deep skill.

Meaning, though it may seem simple from the outside, I assure you a lot more is going on than you think. Even as you learn it,  you can tell, there is a lot more than just a "squat and shoulder raise" you see floating around.

The Swing

Goal: Create Force and Drive with the Hips

Strengthens: Postural Movement from a hip hinge to a stand

When to use: In every program

Benefits: Strength gains, Power development, Endurance, Fat loss, rehab for pain, the list goes on...

Common Issues:

1. Timing
2. Muscle Pairing
3. Breathing

Let's take a look and tackle these common issues.

1. Timing

Timing is everything. Even more true in the kettlebell swing. The goal is to drive from your hips causing the bell to float as you stand and lock your body out. It is a powerful thrust that does not result in leaning back. Keep your hands in your crotch as long as possible. They should not leave your hips until you have stood up. The creates a "catapult" effect, floating the bell forward. Now, for the drop, this is where we lose it. When you reach the top of your swing you need to keep your butt and stomach tight until the bell floats back down to your hips. Only then can you throw your hips back again reloading your body to swing again. Commonly we find people reaching the top of their swing only to throw their butt back immediately instead of waiting for the bell. This keeps the weight and lever in your hips and abs vs your lower back and hip flexors. 

2. Muscle Pairing

"You're telling to do so much at one time, I know what you're saying but my body won't do it!" Sound familiar?

We need to pair the right muscles, having them contract and relax in relationship with one another. As you stand, and swing the bell forward, here are the muscles that need to contract all together:

• Feet (Big toe)
• Quads
• Butt
• Belly
• Lats (Pull your shoulders down away from your ears)
• Eyes straight (Don't let your head rock back or let your chin over tuck)

Getting these muscles to all contract at the same time as you stand is going to make your swing stronger and faster, and change your day to day posture as well. This contraction is not only regular posture, but its how we pull "tension" or stability to our core. Ask a dancer if these should right for standing up straight. I would be they would agree. 

3. Breathing

Holding your breath only makes things harder. Why we do it depends on the person. Some people rely on holding their breath as perceived stability. Some do it out of fear, or not know what is going on, so instead they hold their breath until its over. Some people just don't know they aren't breathing and don't know how to breathe correctly.

• As you hike the bell - INHALE through your nose hard and sharp.
• As you stand (squeezing all those muscles) - EXHALE through your mouth hard and sharp. (Do you feel your abs now?)

In between sets, make sure you are shaking your limbs, bouncing around, taking long intentional breaths into your belly through your nose. Take as many breaths as you need to bring your heart rate back down to a comfortable state that you can swing again with confidence. 

Yes, this is a very quick and superficial way to attack these three common issues. So much of what we do is dependent on the person. But these are at least a few things to read and keep in mind during your next 300 swing workout. If you haven't done a 300 swing workout, get on it! Remember the power of the swing. Its an inch wide mile deep skill that is good for ALL programs. Swing heavy, swing light, swing a lot, swing a little. Just swing. 

My opinion? In the words of David Whitley, "Heavy Swings Rule". 

Swing On,

Kris

Kris@MoultonKettlebellClub.com

If you have been waiting and thinking about starting, the time has come to get your head on straight. Go to Moulton Kettlebell Club and contact us to get started. The people we accept into our community get results and the care they need and deserve. Its time to get on a care program that will build you strong and healthy.

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Winning with Results: How Do You Perceive Value?

18 Trillion.

That number is huge! But, it means little to you in your everyday life.

That number is our national debt believe it or not.

Because it is such a substantial amount of money, we tend to not truly feel the weight of it. It ends up having little "value" in your life.

Ponder this, if you have an outstanding debt of $100,000 and the banks are calling you to get payment on that note, then that number is real. You'd feel the weight of that large amount of money (which you borrowed) and cannot pay that back. If you had that in a savings account, you probably wouldn't have borrowed that in the first place right?

How do we measure value?

One of the greatest hinderances in your pursuit of your health is the lack of value you place on how much you currently have. For the person battling cancer and is on the verge of death, they place a high value on the time and level of health they current hold. The rest of us with "normal" health, we take for granted every single bit of it. You don't know what you have until it's gone, as the old saying goes.

Have you ever felt that no matter how much progress you have made that it was never enough? Be honest with yourself right now. You and I look in the mirror and see what we have not accomplished rather than what we have. To make it even worse, we shame ourselves with guilt saying, "I should have done more" or "I shouldn't have eaten that" or "I should have went to workout", the list is endless.

Have you ever felt that? I know I sure have.

You cannot serve two masters. One must choose the light or dark side [sorry, I'm excited for the new Star Wars movie]. The same goes true for your health or fitness. You can eat for health or you can eat to look like a bodybuilder. You can train to be a great runner or you can train to be a strongman. You focus on total body movements or keep doing individual body parts. This list can be endless too. So then, we must choose which master to serve.

The thing that you value the most is what you fill your schedule with. My encouragement for you today is to focus on filling your schedule with what you want to value (health, fitness, nutrition, etc) and make that priority. One of my favorite reasons for being a partner with Moulton Kettlebell Club is that we often have those conversations with our clients. Real, honest, open conversations that get to the heart of what you value and make sure all that we do with you honors that value.

Until next time,

Nathan
Nathan@MoultonKettlebellClub.com



If you have been waiting and thinking about starting, the time has come to get your head on straight. Go to Moulton Kettlebell Club and contact us to get started. The people we accept into our community get results and the care they need and deserve. Its time to get on a care program that will build you strong and healthy.

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Take the first step of being a part of our community by becoming a subscriber… SUBSCRIBE HERE, we would love to have you.

This is What Gets Results

Yesterday I wrote to you guys talking about Why I Don't Coach Nutrition and Why Your Trainer Should Not Be Writing You Meal Plans. I wanted to take today as an opportunity to elaborate and show you just what I do to help people eat right, see changes, and make lasting impacts.

First off, training alone will never be the answer. Ask anyone in any area of fitness, health, or even performance. You have to eat according to your season of life and your specific goals. The fuel that goes into the machine matters. So, though I am an advocate of Strength and NOT a nutritionist, I still believe whole heartedly that nutrition should come first. I just believe your nutrition (beyond what I am about to share with you) should come from someone certified and or licensed to do so.

Let's get started...

The goal of nutrition is to feed your body. Feed it what it needs so your body can perform the functions it was designed to do. Depending on our job, fitness, goals, lifestyle, etc, the function we are performing range widely. The advice I give for nutrition will not change for any of those areas. That is an example of in depth nutrition that is based on the individual. So where do we start then?

1. Sleep
You have to sleep and rest your body. You couldn't constantly drive around town red lining your car, putting crappy fuel in, and expect it to run well. Next to sleep I put rest days from working out. I ask everyone to try and get 7-8 hours per night. Make it happen.

2. Water
At this point, we are just beating a dead horse. On one side I think the body is capable of incredible things, so when it comes to hydration I think I will get thirsty before I get dehydrated. I have found this to be true, but where folks mess up is they get thirsty and reach for something other than water. Im ok with coffee, tea (not sweet), etc. But make a conscious effort to keep 90% of your fluid intake as good old H2O.

3. Eating Time Frame
I call this the green zone. It's the time of day that you should be eating, and outside of that time frame you should not be eating. When this time starts is not my concern, but how long this time period lasts is more important. Many of us eat breakfast at 7am, snack and eat all day until 10pm. We sleep and "fast" for 9 hours, wake up, and break fast. I flip this around. I am giving you 8-10 hours of eating time each day. So for example, if you eat at 8am, you will be done eating for the day between 4pm-6pm. I have most people start at a 10 hour eating period, creating a 14 hour fasting period. This is not easy AT FIRST... but the results don't lie. You will sleep better, have more energy, crave less crap, and actually have a healthier metabolism.

See full image HERE

4. Eat Less Sugar
This is where I start getting the nit picky questions about which vegetables and fruits are okay. Which confuses me at times because it can sometimes come from someone who drinks Cokes all day and never touches a vegetable. I am not trying to take ALL sugar from you, though it would be quite healthy. I am trying to decrease the amount you are eating and going after the big boulders, not the little pebbles (like sugar content of a carrot). Eat less sugary crap. You know who you are and you know what I am talking about.

5. Eat More Vegetables
Again, I am not picky. Walk down the produce isle and pick any vegetable  you want. Immediately everyone goes for starch. That's fine. You are more than welcome to start your journey into the produce world with a few potatoes. The more you begin to learn and dive into nutrition, the more you'll learn the old model of low-fat, low-carb, starches are bad, is a failed model that created more obesity and heart disease than its counter model of healthy fats, plant based carbohydrates and protein, and a diet made up of mostly veggies. I don't care how much you eat, it changes by the person. I just want you to make a conscious effort to eat more vegetables, whatever that means to you, where you are at right now, and what your goals are.


There you have it. It is as simple as that. Eat more veggies, drink more water, get more sleep, increase your fasting period, and stop eating crap foods that come in a box and plastic. It doesn't matter if you're a diabetic, a healthy athlete, just want to lose weight, or are trying to bulk up. There is nothing from the above that any doctor or nutritionist would disagree with. It's very basic building block stuff that we all miss and mess up with, mostly because we just don't know or even think about it. Instead we go for supplements, powders, pills, and programs to get us skinny fast.

This is it. This will help. But guess what? If it doesn't, thats okay too. Because now we contact a nutritionist who has put years of work into what they do in order to help you the best they can. When you show up to them having those 5 things already down, they can get deep into your nutrition right away. For example, food allergies, genetic issues, glycemic dysfunctions, hormonal dysfunction, immune disorders, inflammation, gut health, etc. Those are the things they are there for and why they charge the rates they charge.

When more trainers start to understand this, the better they can help their clients succeed and help get them on a plan that could very well save a life.


Eat your greens & Lift Mean,

Kris



PS. If you have been waiting and thinking about starting, the time has come to get your head on straight. Go to Moulton Kettlebell Club and contact us to get started. The people we accept into our community get results and the care they need and deserve. Its time to get on a care program that will build you strong and healthy.

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Take the first step of being a part of our community by becoming a subscriber… SUBSCRIBE HERE, we would love to have you.

Why I Don't Coach Nutrition

As a trainer, I am often, or at least it seems like it, expected to know everything there is to know about health, weight loss, and muscle building. People come to me, want a trainer, assume if I accept them as a client that they will lose fat and build muscle.

Sometimes these assumptions happen to work out and these people are successful. But then there is the majority. Those who struggle day to day and find it hard to see results. They lean on me and ask what can they do. What should they do, or why aren't they losing weight?

It took me a while to learn that I couldn't do it all. I couldn't be the movement/strength/kettlebell guy and the nutrition/holistic health & wellness guy at the same time. Where is the mastery in that? I had to let go of the false idea that what I do is for everyone and what I do is going to help everyone. This is because of one small fact:

I don't know everyone. 

By that I mean, nutritionally I have no way of knowing what your body needs and in what quantities. I am not qualified other than one chapter in a personal training book I read a decade ago. I have not worked with enough in depth cases to be able to give you the same product an RD, or nutritionist could as they went through and continue extensive education and licensing to do so.

I found through my kettlebell & movement journey that there are a lot of smart people who workout with kettlebells and build movement pattern strength. My desire to be one of those smart people kept me in the kettlebell/StrongFirst/RKC world. There I learned about strength, movement, mobility, stability, and how to make someone stronger in every sense of the word. I started to look at all those other things I thought "I needed to be", or people assumed I should know, and realized how small those things were and how a lot of people in other industries were putting years of time into understanding and teaching those areas.

I knew it was time to let some stuff go.

So, my response when someone comes to me for nutrition: Let's find you an awesome nutritionist!

"You can't just write me a meal plan?"

Great question! Actually, I can't. And its for multiple reasons, but the most important reason is you need someone with the passion and years of education that I have in movement and kettlebells.. in the nutrition world. And in my opinion, You know what you need to eat to lose weight, and you know what not to eat.

"If you know what to cut out, then cut it out. You know what to eat more, so eat more of it."

Trust me, you are not at a place yet where you need to over analyze what time of day you're eating and pick apart which vegetables are best to consume.

We all know if you move more, you will have more energy. If we eat better we will have better energy. If we sleep more, we will have more energy. The more energy we have the more active we are. All of this tends to result in a lighter body weight. But what if it doesn't but your doctor says you are healthier than your previous visit? THEN YOU ARE WINNING!

So you know what you need to do to lose weight and build muscle. So go do it. There are 168 hours in a week. At most  you are with me for 5 of those. Let me do what I do best and have passion for in those 3-5 hours a week to impact your life. In those 5 hours with me you will learn a lot, you will work your butt off, and you will move better, get stronger, and have less pain. The other 163 hours you're not with me, you know what to do, what to not eat, how much to sleep, and how much water to drink.

Show up, work hard, and spend the rest of your time doing what you need to do when you need to do it, so you can achieve the goals YOU want to reach.


Talk Soon,

Kris



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How to Eat on Thanksgiving

It's the holiday season! We all know what that means: FOOD!

The weather is getting chillier, we are bundling up, and we are starting to eat.... Guess what, it's really actually ok.

So here is how to eat on Thanksgiving:

My goal on Thanksgiving: Eat as much as I can and then some... also known as FEAST.

My plan leading up to Thanksgiving: Practice patience, discipline, and work hard to practice picking heavy stuff up, feeding myself wisely, and moderating my indulgences.

See how that works?

One day of feasting and celebrating with your family should not be torn apart or suppressed. Embrace and enjoy that day. Try new foods, eat lots of them, go all out. Over decorate, put on a cheesy sweater, pour extra strong drinks for the in laws, and for the love of god eat a piece of pumpkin pie.

Then, November 27th... Wake up, take a walk, do your reading, and get back to your patience, discipline, and picking up heavy stuff.

Happy November!



LOOK!
VVVVVV
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Trapped in a Cage

"Why do I self sabotage my own progress?"

Oh yeah... What a familiar feeling huh? If not for you, trust me, many around you know this phrase well. So well, that many of us say it to ourselves quite frequently. We are our own worst enemy, our own obstacle, our own anchor weighing ourselves down... And the crazy thing is, we know it. 

It's not easy to start anything new but imagine trying to escape a cage you are trapped in, prying at the bars, looking all over for a way out, but never knowing where or how to break free. 

To outsiders, who all have an answer and bountiful advice, they see a clear exit from your cage and wonder why you feel stuck. They holler, shout, and pull at you through the bars. 

"I know you're depressed, but you just need to fix your diet and exercise more." -Said no one who has ever handled depression head on.

The reason I love strength training so much, is because it has opened so many doors for me and taught me so much. You begin to see that your cage isn't really confining you anywhere. You notice the bars were wide enough apart to step through the whole time. Your cage becomes a safe home. One you know how to enter and exit. 

Strength did that for me. The discipline, the hard lessons, the teachers, mentors, and friends I have made. Strength changed my life because I found out that such a simple word means so much more. The way I treat others, my time, my family and loved ones, most of all it changed the way I treat myself. 

We are in this together but our story, our path, our journey is our own. So, to the outsiders, no advice is really needed, maybe a hand to hold or a hug on a hard day. I assure you, we are all trying our best. 

To the insiders... Take a breath. You will and can find a way out. You can find your strength that will get rid of the craziness that created your cage. The depth of your capacity to change this world, your life, and impact the masses is immeasurable. It's ok to struggle. It's ok to hurt. It's ok to never give up. Lean on the loved ones while you purge fear and hatred from your life. Always remember, we love you. 

Share your story and paint the world with kindness and compassion.

Here's to the power of strength,

Kris

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The Importance of Community

Hey Guys,

The importance of community is a no brainer. Support, accountability, growth, protection, social strength, camaraderie, and an overwhelming sense of gratification doing things for others with no expectation of personal gain. 

At Moulton Kettlebell Club we want our members to build relationships with each other, get to know your neighbor, share what we learn from each other with family and friends all around us. It’s not always easy to break out of our comfort zones and begin new relationships with new people. 

“As my intentions in creating a community of like-minded thinkers became more clear, I began to conceptualize exactly what I wanted to achieve.

Here are five questions that I considered in terms of creating or joining a community:

1. What are your values and what values do you want to be aligned within the community?

2. What is the purpose and goal of creating or joining a community? 

3. How often do you want to engage with your community (ex: daily, weekly, monthly, etc.)?

4. How do you want to structure your community (ex: private Facebook group, Meetup, Google group, in-person meeting, dinner party etc.)? 

5. What do you have to offer the group and what do you want to receive? How can you share and collaborate?” (Spero)

The benefits and relationships are endless. That’s why for our current members I am creating a Facebook forum for you to join and create that place where we can share, collaborate, and engage. 

For those who are not members, now is your opportunity. We would love to have you join us. If you are interested feel free to reach out in private message, text, or phone call. Visit our website for more contact information [www.MoultonKettlebell.webs.com]

To those in our community who work hard, THANK YOU. To those in our community who have popped their comfort bubble, THANK YOU. Everyone here has a big impact in the community we have created and I think when I speak from everyone else when I say THANK YOU for everything you have done to push us, hold us accountable, make us stronger, and keep our progress moving forward. 

Yours in Gratitude,

Kris

Take the first step of being a part of our community by becoming a subscriber… SUBSCRIBE HERE, we would love to have you. 

1. Spero, H. (n.d.). The Importance of Community. Retrieved November 2, 2015.

Halloween Candy!

Halloween! The one day of the year when kids get to embrace their imaginations, become their character of choice, and collect all the free neighborhood candy they can carry. Unfortunately, the good-natured intentions behind this holiday don't negate the health implications that come along with a pillowcase full of candy. In case you were wondering, an average pillowcase can hold approximately 1,690 pieces of candy. That's a lot of sugar for one pancreas to handle.

Halloween can be a fun holiday without making it all about extreme candy consumption. There is no need to reinforce that special occasions are for binging, American culture does a great job of that as it is (Thanksgiving, Christmas, Fourth of July cookouts, birthdays, the list goes on). The way we associate food with celebration stacks the odds against our kids for their health in the future while they grow up surrounded by the “it's a happy occasion, GATHER ALL TREATS!” mindset. As food quality diminishes and processed, junk, and convenience food availability soars, every little health habit reinforcement counts. So rather than approach this Saturday with “have all the candy you want until it's gone, it's HALLOWEEN,” consider implementing these approaches to your holiday fun this year.

1. Anticipate the adventure – If you know that night will involve a lot of candy exchange and the possibility of consumption, take that into consideration at mealtimes that day. Since Halloween falls on Saturday and not a school day this year, you may have more control over their meals and snacks. Keep sugar intake lower throughout the day (water instead of sodas or juices, snacks based on veggies rather than fruits, meals built on protein, fiber, and fat rather than starchy carbs like breads, pastas, and potatoes) so that if for some crazy reason your kiddos end up having a few pieces of candy that night it doesn't increase their sugar intake of the day quite as dramatically.
2. Feed the little monsters – Before you take your costumed characters out for a night on the town, make the time to eat a nutritious meal. Of course they will be eager to get out and strut their costumed stuff, but hitting the streets with an empty stomach will leave them no choice but to snack on their collected treats along the way. Before you know it dinner is chocolate and chewy candy and the night plummets from a sugar high to a belly ache.
3. Sort the loot at the end of the night – we've all been there. You get home at the end of your trick or treat experience to a bag full of all kinds of goodies – the candy worth gold and the candy you can't believe people actually think is worth handing out. It's nobody's favorite but you know if it stays in e house it will be eaten. Use their end of the night rush of excitement (if the miles-long walk didn't wear them out) to relive their experience as you go through the loot and encourage them to be picky. After all, the candy should be a treat, not a staple, so encourage them to consider whether they really love that flavor of that tiny lollipop enough for it to trump the good stuff. 
4. Have a plan – if we eat one piece of candy from our average sized pillowcase per day, that Halloween bounty will last over four and a half years. At my house, if I had a bag of candy sitting there for four and a half years, I'd be hard pressed to commit to a one-a-day limit for the duration. Make a plan with your little ones BEFORE trick or treating that when you come home with your bag of awesomeness, they may have one piece a day for ten days, or whatever deal you find to be reasonable. Offering them freedom in their framework (whatever piece you want, whatever time of day, choose two of these size OR one of these size, etc) can help them to feel less restricted and more in command of their goodies. Bonus: this offers the kids some practice in prioritizing and discipline – because who really WANTS to ration candy?
5. Look for teal pumpkins – a couple of years ago, a trend began with Halloween that houses who opt to hand out non-sugary treats (glow sticks, temporary tattoos, rubber spiders, etc) would place a teal-painted pumpkin or a poster displaying one on their porch. That way families can see them as they approach the houses and have an alternative to candy. Who doesn't love glow sticks?
6. Follow through – when it's all said and done, the memories from Halloween aren't dependent upon the third week of residual candy tempting the family until Thanksgiving and beyond. Make it more of a holiday memory than a lifestyle by following through with your timeline and getting rid of ALL of the candy leftover by that date. If it feels wasteful, remind yourself that your body is not a garbage disposal and the positive effects of avoiding the sugar for your health (and physique) are worth the candy sacrifice. However, if it still breaks your heart to throw all that hard-earned candy in the trash, there is actually a way to donate it. Operation Gratitude is an organization that will take your Halloween candy through November 15^th and send it off to our troops overseas. So you are brightening someone's day, AND pawning the sugar off on someone more likely to burn it off than your poor desk-anchored school kids. More information can be found at www.operationgratitude.

So deck the kids out, round them up, and prepare them for a thrilling All Hallows' Eve. Be sure to discuss your plan ahead of time. Find your way to distinguish this holiday experience from your normal lifestyle and these activities will become their fond memories as they look back on those special days when they could loot the neighborhood and enjoy only the best of what was offered – without going to bed miserable every night after Halloween. 

Happy Halloween!

Jessie Harrell

Jessie@MoultonKettlebellClub.com

Freedomfit (www.Freedomfit121.com)