The Fitness Junction

This week:

• Knowledge Corner: The Premack principle

• Monthly Challenge Update: Plank wrap-up and April preview

• Meme Center: Keeping the Mike O'Hearn trend alive

Knowledge Corner: The Premack Principle

Remember when you were told as a child to eat your broccoli before your dessert? Well that's actually an example of a powerful psychological tool called premacking. It follows the basic idea of positive reinforcement by requiring the completion of a goal behavior prior to allowing yourself to partake in an enjoyable behavior. In other words, you're making a rule with yourself that you'll only do "X" (enjoyable activity) if you've already done "Y" (goal-related activity).

A 2023 systematic review of studies on the Premack principle found that it is an effective method for positive behavior change in a wide range of settings. Premacking, also called "Grandma's Law," works because it helps you remember to do your desired goal behavior. Every time you think about the enjoyable activity, your brain will be cued to also think about your goal. And if you can actually stick to your rule - at least most times (no one is perfect) - then you'll start to get more satisfaction out of both the goal behavior and the enjoyable one. You will have achieved something that day and earned whatever reward you treat yourself to. Together, these effects will help cement this new habit into your daily routine.

Here are some premacking ideas:

• No TV/video games until after you've completed your workout for that day

• No social media allowed until after you've read a chapter of a book

• No day drinking until after you've gone for a run or walk

• No coffee in the morning until you've had two glasses of water

• For real, don't eat dessert until after you've finished your fruits and veggies

When combined with similar tools like temptation bundling, premacking can help you prioritize and solidify healthy habits into your daily lifestyle.

Trivia

In celebration of opening day for the MLB, who owns the record for longest (verified) home run in professional baseball?

• A. Ted Williams

• B. Reggie Jackson

• C. Joey Meyer

• D. Babe Ruth

March Challenge: 2min Plank Every Day

Finished strong! A total of 56min of planking in March. Maybe next time we'll premack our planking with something else so we don't miss a single one...progress, not perfection!

For April, I'll be challenging myself - and anyone interested in joining - to do 1000 kettlebell swings throughout the month. All it takes is a single kettlebell and a little elbow grease!

Meme Center

If you'd like to see this meme in it's full glory (slo-mo and audio), click here.

Trivia answer: C. Joey Meyer (582 feet). In 1987, Triple-A (yup, wasn't even in the Majors) first baseman Joey Meyer took pitcher Mike Murphy YARD to the upper deck at Mile High Stadium in Denver. I'm no physicist but I'm guessing the thin air definitely helped. You can watch a clip of the dinger here. There are anecdotes of the Great Bambino hitting home runs over 600 feet but none that can be confirmed.

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