Shape Up! Your SMART New Years Game Plan

If you’re like millions of Americans, you’ve set fitness resolutions in the past and haven’t been as successful as you have wanted.  Many times, this is because goals were unrealistic, not specific, or there was no mechanism in place to track your progress towards your goals.

Before I became a trainer and owner of The Phoenix Effect, I worked as a project manager at a microfinance bank.  If I learned one thing from my office days, setting SMART goals was the most valuable lesson. SMART stands for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Time-Bound. 

When setting fitness goals, we should always try to make them as SMART as possible.  For example, saying “I want to get fit,” is not a SMART goal and you’ve just set yourself up for failure.  However if you say, “I’d like to improve my body image by working on my fitness and losing four percent of body fat in two months by doing bootcamp at The Phoenix Effect three days a week and tracking my nutrition,” you’re way more likely to succeed. Let’s talk a little more in depth about SMART goals.

Be Specific. Start painting a picture of what you want, where and how you will do it, and why you want to do this.

Make sure your goals are Measurable. Sure, you want to get more fit, but what does that mean to you? Do you want to set a personal record for your deadlift? Do you want to lose body fat? If so, by how much?

Are your goals Achievable and Realistic? Perhaps if you’ve never done a squat in your life, setting a goal of squatting 300 pounds in a month is a bit unrealistic. Same goes for weight loss and muscle gain. Most athletes can hope to lose or gain 1-2 pounds per week. Anything more than that is a stretch. Setting goals requires a bit of self-awareness and knowing your starting point/baseline measurements.  If you’re unsure how to do this, contact a fitness professional who can help you out!

Finally, make sure your goals are Time-bound. Set a date. Work towards that date. Write those goals down and post them where you can see them.

Now that you have your goals set, figure out how you will track and monitor your progress instead of forgetting about them.  Some people like to set alerts every so often on their calendars. For others, putting the goals on the fridge or their cubicle is enough. Again, this is where self-awareness comes into play. If your methods didn’t work in the past, try something else this time.

I wish you all the best of luck and here’s to a SMART 2015!

Jeremy Kinser

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Anti-Gay Law In Indonesia's Aceh Province Forces LGBT People Into Hiding

By Gayatri Suroyo and Charlotte Greenfield
BANDA ACEH, Indonesia/JAKARTA, Dec 28 (Reuters) – Overwhelmed by fear, members of the main gay rights group in the Indonesian town of Banda Aceh started burning piles of documents outside their headquarters in late October, worried that the sharia police would raid them at any moment.
Indonesia’s northernmost province of Aceh had weeks earlier passed an anti-homosexuality law that punishes anyone caught having gay sex with 100 lashes. Amnesty International criticized it, saying it would add to a climate of homophobia and fear.
“We are more afraid, of course,” said a 31-year-old transgender person who, along with three other members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) group, Violet Grey, burned the pamphlets, group records and other papers.
“As an institution, Violet Grey went as far as removing all documents related to LGBT. We burned them all,” said the group member, who declined to be identified out of fear of being arrested.
The province’s tight-knit gay community, estimated by some at about 1,000 people, has become increasingly marginalized since Aceh was allowed to adopt Islamic sharia law as its legal code.
Aceh was granted special regional autonomy as part of a 2005 peace agreement ending a three-decade old separatist insurgency.
After the anti-homosexuality law was passed in September, Violet Grey began warning its 47 members to keep a lower profile and for gay and transgender people to avoid going out together as couples in public.
No one has been arrested under the law, which Aceh officials say will not be enforced until the end of 2015 to allow residents time to prepare for it. But this has not eased the fear in the gay community.
Even before the law, life was not easy for gay people in the most religiously conservative part of Indonesia, the north of Sumatra island where Islam first arrived in the archipelago.
The gay community is a target of regular harassment from sharia police and residents. Transgender people are particularly vulnerable because of the difficulty of concealing themselves in public.
In 2011, a transgender make-up artist was stabbed to death in Banda Aceh after she held up a stick in response to a man’s taunts.

OTHER PROVINCES TO FOLLOW?
Aceh authorities defend the law, saying it does not violate human rights because gay people are free to live together but just can not have sex.
The law also sets out punishment for various acts apart from gay sex including unmarried people engaging in displays of affection, adultery and underage sex.
“It is forbidden because in the sharia context, the act is vile,” Syahrizal Abbas, the head of Aceh’s sharia department, which drew up the law, told Reuters.
“It brings unhealthy psychological impact to human development, and it will affect the community.”
Outside Aceh, Indonesia is generally tolerant of gay people, particularly in urban areas like Jakarta.
Engaging in homosexual acts is not a crime under Indonesia’s national criminal code but remains taboo in many conservative parts of the country, which has the world’s largest Muslim population.
Gay rights groups fear other conservative provinces, such as South Sumatra and East Java could follow Aceh’s lead if Indonesia’s new president, Joko Widodo, does not step in and overturn the law.
Widodo’s administration is reviewing the law to see whether it violates human rights but it can only request changes and cannot overturn it, said Teguh Setyabudi, the home ministry’s head of regional autonomy.
The Violet Grey member hopes the law will eventually be overturned so she can walk home without watching her back in fear.
“Being like this is our fate, not a choice,” she said.
“What makes people wearing a jilbab and peci feel so righteous that they can condemn other people as sinful?” she asked, referring to a woman’s veil and a traditional Muslim cap worn by men.
(Additional reporting by Reza Munawir in Banda Aceh; Editing by Randy Fabi and Robert Birsel)

www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/12/28/indonesia-aceh-anti-gay-law_n_6385720.html?utm_hp_ref=gay-voices&ir=Gay+Voices

Michael Sam Discusses Coming Out In Documentary
ST. LOUIS (AP) — Michael Sam says in a TV documentary airing Saturday night that coming out as gay was the right thing to do.

The Oprah Winfrey Network said in a release that the 90-minute program followed by a one-on-one with Winfrey and Sam was the player’s first TV appearance since being cut by the Dallas Cowboys in mid-October. After one day of filming last spring, the Rams pulled the plug on the network’s plans for a Sam documentary during training camp. In a transcript released by the network, Sam called the NFL draft “the longest three days of my life.” The St. Louis Rams drafted Sam late in the seventh round.

Sam said the reassuring hand of his boyfriend, Vito, on his shoulder during the wait to get picked affirmed the decision last February to reveal his sexual orientation. Sam, a defensive end who was the SEC co-defensive player of the year.

“In that moment, I was like ‘I don’t care what happens. I made the right choice to come out,'” Sam said.

In a voiceover promo for the show, Winfrey questions whether Sam got a fair shot. Sam kissed his boyfriend as a national television audience looked on.

“Some say the kiss, the cake, it was all just too much,” Winfrey said. “Some say he wasn’t good enough. Others say he should have never come out.”

The Rams made Sam, the co-defensive player of the year at Missouri, the 249th overall pick out of 256 in the draft. He was among 21 players waived by the team to reach the 53-player limit before the season opener.

Echoing his remarks after drafting Sam with the 249th overall pick out of 256, coach Jeff Fisher said several times it was purely a football decision. The Rams were well-stocked with pass rushers, and undrafted Ethan Westbrooks grabbed the final defensive end spot.

“I will tell you this: I was pulling for Mike,” Fisher said then. “I really was, and I don’t say that very often. Mike came in here and did everything we asked him to do.”

On Twitter, roughly an hour after he was cut, Sam thanked the Rams and the city of St. Louis. He also wrote “The most worthwhile things in life rarely come easy, this is a lesson I’ve always known. The journey continues.”

Sam spent seven weeks on the Cowboys’ practice squad before being released and is a free agent.

___

AP NFL website: www.pro32.ap.org and www.twitter.com/AP_NFL

www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/12/27/michael-sam-coming-out_n_6385390.html?utm_hp_ref=gay-voices&ir=Gay+Voices

Swiss Film Fest Fires Egyptian Journalist for Role in Bathhouse Raid

Journalist Mona Iraqi is accused of setting up a raid on a gay bathhouse in Cairo that has 26 men now facing prison sentences.

read more

Thom Senzee

www.advocate.com/world/2014/12/27/swiss-film-fest-fires-egyptian-journalist-role-bathhouse-raid

Michael Sam Opens Up About the Other Gay NFL Players Who Reached Out to Him: VIDEO

Kyler Geoffroy

www.towleroad.com/2014/12/michael-sam-opens-up-about-the-other-gay-nfl-players-who-reached-out-to-him-video.html

Taiwan Removes Surgical Barriers to Trans Citizens' Legal Recognition

With Taiwan’s celebrated decision, the number of countries worldwide that require proof-of-surgery to change legal gender now drops to 28.

read more

Mitch Kellaway

www.advocate.com/world/2014/12/27/taiwan-removes-surgical-barriers-trans-citizens-legal-recognition

Which City Provides The Sultriest Experience? Cast Your Vote And Win A Trip

Bali. Miami. Barcelona. Bangkok. Last Vegas. Mexico City.

There’s no shortage of sultry cities. Which is the sexiest of them all?

We’ve narrowed it down to these sex, er, six choices. Now it’s up to you to decide which should take home the top prize in the 2014 Best of GayCities.

Vote for your favorite sultry nominee–or write in your own–for a chance at a free trip for two to any destination in the continental U.S., courtesy of our friends at Hyatt.

Voting is easy. Just sign into your GayCities account and make your selections. You’ll automatically be entered into the prize sweepstakes.

Polls close January 5. You must be a US resident to win the prize. See the complete rules.

Graham Gremore

feedproxy.google.com/~r/queerty2/~3/a5TUhO6-0I4/which-city-provides-the-sultriest-experience-cast-your-vote-and-win-a-trip-20141227

UK Soccer Player Gets Yellow Card for Kissing Opponent: VIDEO

Kyler Geoffroy

www.towleroad.com/2014/12/uk-soccer-player-gets-yellow-card-for-kissing-opponent-video.html

Journalism Magazine Calls Don Lemon The Worst

Watch the gaffes that landed Don Lemon on a list of the year’s worst journalism.

read more

Lucas Grindley

www.advocate.com/politics/media/2014/12/27/journalism-magazine-calls-don-lemon-worst

“Behind Closed Drawers” Awareness Campaign Doesn’t Want You To Get Anal Cancer

A new campaign called “Behind Closed Drawers” hopes to raise awareness to the issue of anal cancer among gay men.

“A growing number of physicians and health activists recommend that all men who have sex with men, especially those who are HIV-positive, be tested every one-to-three years depending on their immunological well-being and CD4 count,” organizers said in a statement. “They suggest that HIV negative individuals be tested every three years. This work is important, because most people know little about anal cancer, have never been tested for it, and don’t know that screening tests exist.”

The campaign, which was launched by the National LGBT Cancer Network and Tusk and Dagger, is currently working to create a directory of free and low-cost, LGBT-friendly anal cancer screening clinics across the country.

Organizers hope to raise funds by asking folks to text 41444 to “UNDIES” and make a donation. They are also encouraging people to spread the word via social media by posting photos of themselves in their underpants with the hashtag #BehindClosedDrawers.

An opportunity to raise awareness and take shameless selfies of ourselves in our undies for a good cause? Count us in.

Related stories:

PHOTOS: Underwear Models And Former Child Stars Pose For HIV Awareness Campaign

PHOTOS: It Helps to Be Naked When Raising Cancer Awareness

PHOTOS: Disney Princes Grab Their Crotches To Remind You To Play Safe

Graham Gremore

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