Message from TJ:

It’s that time when families are packing up their kids’ clothing, sleeping bags, and mosquito repellent, getting ready to send them off to camp. Meanwhile, far too many dads are getting ready for their own summer, albeit a much more somber experience than that of their kids.
It turns out that loads of middle-aged white men are checking themselves into mental health facilities for extended stays, due to stress, anxiety, and even suicidal thoughts. I personally know of four RIGHT NOW.
Middle-aged, white males currently own the depressing distinction of being the highest statistic for suicide in the United States. My job is to be of service to this community and to help educate and inform. As uncomfortable as this subject matter is, I feel like this is a good place to talk about it.
I’m writing about this because we know that fitness, sun, sleep, community and a healthy diet are all potential players in the fight against depression. If there’s any way we can make the smallest change to better someone’s life, we are all on board.
After raising this topic in a class the other day, I was alerted to a fascinating article (Thank you, Malcolm) in the Atlantic called "Your Professional Decline is Coming Much Sooner than you Think." By Arthur C. Brooks
Essentially, you are most likely to be an innovator in your earlier professional years and more of a facilitator and educator as you hit middle age. Writer Arthur Brooks who used to be the president of a Washington think tank called the American Enterprise Institute.
He used a fascinating comparison of two famous men, Darwin and Bach. Darwin's rise to stardom happened as a young man. When he was 27, his studies heralded him as one of the greatest researchers of all time. As he aged, he lamented the fact that he could no longer access the mindset that would allow him to recreate the types of discoveries he had made decades earlier, and he died feeling depressed by his self-defined "failure" to continue his work.
Bach, on the other hand, took a different perspective. He had become incredibly famous as a young man. That fame was fleeting though, as musical trends changed shortly after his break-out stardom. To make matters worse, his fifth (of 20!) child became even more famous than Bach, himself, and pushed his father’s creations even further from the spotlight. Bach accepted this trend and became a writer and teacher and more dedicated to his family. At the time of his death, is was said that he was content and happy with how his life turned out.
We change over time. Our minds work differently. This is fact.
British psychologist Raymond Cattell introduced the concepts of fluid and crystallized intelligence.Fluid intelligence is the ability to analyze, reason and solve. Brooks calls it raw intellectual horsepower. Crystallized is the ability to use knowledge gained. Possessing a vast library and knowing how to use it. Fluid is found mostly in 30-40 year olds, and Crystallized is found mostly after 50. For example, more fiction writers have bestsellers in their 30's and 40's, while more non-fiction writers have best sellers after 50.
What if we knew that we were changing and that we should go with the flow, as they say? What if we started moving into different roles that didn't require the tools that we no longer possessed? Maybe this could reduce our stress. Maybe this could bring us more satisfaction. Maybe it would even cause us to make better, healthier choices.
This is just a blog. It's just my thoughts shared with you to make us think. I realize that in no way do I have the ability to diagnose or cure. But I really like hypotheses that become theory and help us fast-forward to fact. Especially when it might help someone.

SEEKING KIDS WHO WANT TO BE IN THE CORTE MADERA JULY 4th PARADE!

Our daughter, Hollis, would love a few more kids to join this year’s JUGGLING FOR JUDE float in the parade. It’s a super-fun way to spend the holiday morning! Kids on the team will ride / walk the parade route, handing out flyers about childhood cancer and the important work of St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. Ages 7-11 are the target, give or take. Time commitment is around 9:45-11:45.

Please email hollisbbelger@gmail.com ASAP if you have an interested child. She will take the first kids who reach out, so don’t delay if this is something your kids are excited about! Thank you!

SUMMER “CONSISTENCY” CHALLENGE: June 17th - August 17th. NO FEE TO PARTICIPATE!

YOU CAN STILL JUMP IN! THIS challenge is about consistency OVER INTENSITY, not about winninG.

July 4th Schedule

Please note that there will be one class per location!

Registration IS HERE youth fitness over the Summer !

Our current Youth Fitness Session will end this Sunday, June 30th, and we've got our summer class schedule ready to go. Our youth summer session will run from July 8th to August 23rd.
In order to accommodate summer travel, we are offering 10-class packs ($240) and 20-class packs ($420). These classes will expire on August 23rd. We will be making the charges during the week of July 4th, once we have finalized the schedule and have determined the viability of all classes based on numbers of registrants.

We also offer drop-ins for $25. Please make sure to check in on the schedule HERE after the week of the 4th, before your child decides to drop in. We will also send a follow-up email to announce our final summer schedule.

Please email Jessica@tjsgym.com to get your child registered! We will need to know which days and times your child will attend.