CEO’s Blog

I’m a huge fan of economics and psychology, and recently I saw something that mixed the two together.

As you have probably heard, many airlines are now charging you if you check ANY bags. I was on United a few days ago and had to pay $15 to check my one bag. I can see how this puts a bad taste in your mouth as a customer. Getting nickel and dimed isn’t a good feeling.

Obviously, the airlines put this in place to try to make some extra money, especially as fuel prices are skyrocketing. (Not that they were making money before, but that’s another story… don’t even get me started.)  Right now the airline executives are probably patting themselves on the back for implementing a new way to increase revenue.

Here’s the interesting part.

Whenever you change the economics of a situation, there are always secondary consequences. For example, one college was having a problem with rats. So they came up with a "brilliant" idea. They would ask the college students to kill any rats they found, and bring them in and get a $1 reward. That way every college student is helping! Well, a few months later they had a LOT of rats turned in by students, but the rat problem was actually getting worse.

They found that college students were actually breeding more rats so they could get paid more money! Woops. There are hundreds of stories like this.

Back to the airlines. What do you think will happen when you start charging for checked bags? Well, people are going to check less bags. They still need to bring their stuff with them, and customers are not stupid. They know you can bring one bag on the plane with you and put it in the overhead bin or under your seat.

So now a much higher percentage of people are bringing bags with them on the plane, even though the amount of space in the overhead bins has not increased.

As I was getting on the plane last week, I noticed that it was taking FOREVER for everybody to load. People could not find spots for their luggage. It was full even though only half the people were on the plane. People were moving bags around, shoving bags in tiny spots, moving up and down the aisle looking for a spot, and the finally asking the flight attendant for help. I even took a picture with my phone:

The pilot actually came on the loud speaker and announced that we needed to "hurry" and get loaded because we were now already 15 minutes late for takeoff.

Being behind schedule costs the airlines a lot of money. Airlines need their planes to be in the air as much as possible, rather than sitting on the ground where they are not performing any service to customers.

Also, I wonder what the costs are to customer loyalty and satisfaction? How many customers are now upset about the extra fees, slow loading and irritation when trying to find a place to put their bag, and late arrivals?

It is my opinion that airline executives will see the positive side of their new fees (higher revenue per passenger), but will be scratching their heads when they lose even more money. They can’t see these unintended consequences on their financial reports. But they are there.

Southwest doesn’t charge any extra fees for your first two bags. They are promoting that everywhere ("You’ve entered a no-hidden-fee zone!"), which is smart. Southwest is one of the only airlines that "gets it". It’s all about the customer! You would think the other airline executives would catch on one of these days….

We all know that we should set goals in our life for fitness, family, career, and everything else that is important to us. But did you know that HOW you set goals could be the biggest thing that determines whether you actually reach them?

For example, a study by Hayes et all, 1985 showed that people that set goals and announced them PUBLICLY actually performed 17% better on a test than the other two groups which consisted of people that didn’t set goals and people that privately set goals. Yes, if you set a goal but you do not tell anybody, you are just as likely to fail as somebody that DOESN’T even set a goal at all!

That’s a big reason why we created BodySpace. It’s the perfect place to publicly set your goals and commit to them. Your online and offline friends and family can also see your progress and cheer you on.

Here are other tips for effective goal setting from my the book I am reading titled Behavior Modification: What It Is And How To Do It:

1. Specific goals are more effective than vague goals.

2. Goals with respect to learning of specific skills (4-foot putts in golf) should include mastery criteria (making six putts in a row).

3. Goals should identify the circumstances under which desirable behavior should occur.

4. Realistic, challenging goals are more effective than "Do Your Best" goals

5. Public goals are more effective than private goals.

6. Goal setting is more effective if deadlines are included.

7. Goal setting plus feedback (charting your progress) is more effective than goal setting alone.

8. Goal setting is most effective when individuals are committed to the goals (don’t set goals for somebody else without their participation).

Create smart goals, write them down, create an action plan for reaching your goal, announce your goals to the world on BodySpace, track your progress, and just watch the magic that happens!

You probably think I am going to recommend a drug or supplement, but studies show that Behavioral Sleep Therapy could the answer for you.

Here’s how to do it:

1. Exercise regularly, but not late in the evening.

2. Relax before bedtime.

3. Don’t consume caffeine or alcohol late in the evening.

4. Go to bed only when you are feeling sleepy.

5. If sleep has not occurred within 10 minutes, leave the bedroom and read a book until you feel sleepy.

6. Avoid nonsleep activities in bed.

7. Get up at the same time each morning, regardless of what time you go to bed.

In a review of 21 studies of a total of 470 participant with insomnia, behavioral sleep therapy was MORE effective than drugs on all measures. This shows that behavior therapy should be a first-line treatment for chronic insomnia.

On a side note related to sleep and behavior, I also never use my young kid’s bed or bedroom as a punishment area. It’s hard enough to get kids to go to bed without making the bedroom a negative, punishment area that they want to avoid at all costs!  Also, I never threaten early bedtime when they are misbehaving. "If you keep acting like that, you’ll have to go to bed right now!" Once again, the message you are giving them is that bedtime is a BAD thing and they SHOULD scream and cry to avoid it! They are smart enough to understand the underlying message!

I found this study in a textbook I am reading (not for school, but for fun) called Behavior Modification: What It Is And How To Do It. Recommended for parents, leaders, and people trying to help people change their lives and get fit!

From a news article:

"Hundreds of inmates at Scotland’s main prison for young offenders are to be given nutritional supplements in a radical attempt to reduce violence, The Herald can reveal.

Around 500 prisoners at Polmont Young Offenders Institute in Falkirk, along with another 500 in England, are being recruited to a trial aimed at proving that taking a daily vitamin, mineral and fish oil pill can dramatically cut the number of attacks behind bars.

Initial studies have found that assaults in jails have fallen sharply among those receiving doses of extra nutrients."

Read the full article here:

http://www.theherald.co.uk/news/news/display.var.2447624.0.Young_offenders_given_vitamin_supplements_to_cut_violence.php

I think we’ve all heard this line from our parents while we were at the dinner table. If you are a parent, you’ve probably used it yourself. We all want our kids to eat healthy food so that they’ll get the nutrients they need to grow and succeed.

But this simple line, and others like it, may actually hurt your child over the long term, according to behavior modification studies.

You may think that you are rewarding your child for eating their veggies by giving them dessert. You may be pleased to see that your tactics are working when the child does in fact eat their veggies (which is positive reinforcement for you, making it more likely that you’ll use this line again), while grumbling and making pouty faces.

Here’s the problem. Think about what the real message is that you are giving to your impressionable child. In this one comment, you are telling your child that eating vegetables is something that they have to be PAID to do. It’s kind of like picking up dog poop or taking out the trash… nobody likes it, it’s disgusting, it’s a negative activity that nobody would do if they weren’t rewarded for it in some way.

What is the likelihood that they wil eat veggies on their own when the immediate reward is taken away? Due to this, how many adults actually eat enough healthy food as they get older?

"You’ll Get Dessert!"

Now let’s look at the second part of the "eat your veggies" command. By telling them that they’ll earn dessert in exchange for doing something that they don’t like, you are also telling them that dessert is a GOOD, desirable thing that brings happiness. The message is clear. Veggies are bad, dessert is good!

Studies show that children learn to associate positive or negative feelings towards food depending on the reinforcement that they receive from their parents. That’s a big reason why many people label certain foods as "comfort food". It’s partly physiological (sweets and fat reward you with good taste), but a big part of it is emotional. We remember good times (birthdays, family barbecues, holidays, Grandma’s house, etc.) and the food that was associated with those good feelings. When we are feeling down, we immediately turn to food to lift our mood and put us in that "happy place".

We learn as children to classify food, activities, behavior, and more by what our parents and social surroundings tell us is good or bad, based on if we get positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement, or no reinforcement at all. What messages are you giving your children about food?

As a parent, I will never use candy or junk food as a reward. I’m not saying that my kids will never eat candy (they do, just not too often), but I will NOT turn candy into an even more positive and rewarding experience that modifies their future behavior and attitudes about food.

A new study that is about to be released:

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ISLAMABAD: Four common supplements — chromium, vitamin B-6, vitamin B-12 and multivitamins — may help slow weight gain in middle-age adults, claims a study by researchers at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle.

Researchers reviewed questionnaire responses from about 15,000 people, average age 55, in Washington state. They provided information about their vitamin, mineral and herbal supplement use over the previous 10 years, along with details about diet, physical activity and medical history. The researchers focused on 14 supplements.

The study concluded that the people who had taken multivitamins, vitamin B-6, vitamin B-12 and chromium had less weight gain over the previous 10 years than other respondents. That slowed weight gain was most evident among people who’d been categorized as overweight or obese at the start of the 10-year period.

The findings were to be presented this week at the annual meeting of the American Association of Naturopathic Physicians in Seattle.

Link: http://www.onlinenews.com.pk/details.php?id=133306

Well, it’s not really officially the Bodybuilding.com plane, but my 2008 Cirrus SR22-Turbo Perspective might as well be. Each month, the employee that wins the monthly MVP award wins a trip above the clouds. Yesterday, I took Jed Reese and Brandon Poe, and had a great time. Check out these great pics that “Poe Show” took:

Jed Reese Saying His Last Prayer. Haha.

Here I Am Doing A Thorough Pre-Flight

I’m In The Left Seat, Jed’s My Co-Pilot On The Right

It was a perfect flying day! Oh, and don’t worry, this plane has an all-plane parachute. These guys are too valuable to Bodybuilding.com to risk!

Cirrus Website

Check out this great new study that just came out about exercise/supplementation for people aged 65 - 92. This just proves what we already know here at Bodybuilding.com… the right exercise and the right supplements make every part of your life better.

Bodybuilding is not just for 18 year old dudes that are looking to get "blimped" in order to impress the fine ladies. It’s for everybody that wants to live life to the fullest, even senior citizens! It’s our job to educate the world about this, and help motivate them to get moving!

The full article is below, but here is the Cliff’s notes version:

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CLIFF’S:

- IF YOU WANT to live longer and stay healthier, then get out of your chair and start exercising. This is just as true for older people and provides a way to delay the impairments that can come in later life and even reverse them.

- The study results were really quite striking, she believes. All groups showed improvements, but those who did best were the groups doing low to moderate exercise and who took the carbohydrate and protein supplementation. These did better than those who did the exercise but did not take the supplements.

- There were improvements in skeletal muscle mass of up to 30 percent, improvements across the board in functional tests and the inflammatory cytokines "were greatly reduced".

FULL ARTICLE:

IF YOU WANT to live longer and stay healthier, then get out of your chair and start exercising. This is just as true for older people and provides a way to delay the impairments that can come in later life and even reverse them.

The message on exercise is not new but a fresh analysis from Dr Gladys Pearson of Manchester Metropolitan University is perhaps one of the most in-depth studies yet attempted to show how exercise and diet helps the older population to stay healthy.
She presented her comprehensive analysis yesterday at a session on the closing day of the annual British Association Festival of Science, this year taking place in Liverpool.

“Our aim was to study how to use nutrition and exercise in older people to try and reverse some of the negative aspects of ageing,” Dr Pearson said. She undertook a pilot study of 78 subjects with funding from the UK body that promotes age-related research called Sparc, Strategic Promotion of Ageing Research Capacity.

“We were trying to look at the type of exercise and the intensity of the exercise and at the social aspects of the routine to assess how likely they were to participate in the experience,” Dr Pearson said.

The 78 participants were healthy, independent-living and aged from 65 and 92. They were randomly assigned to five groups with variables including involvement in low, medium and high levels of exercise and whether they took nutritional supplements in association with their exercises.

The low level of exercise taken by one group once a week and using exercise machines found in any gym would hardly be enough to make a person perspire, while the high level of exercise was taken twice a week and involved high-intensity resistance training, Dr Pearson said.

The supplements were no more than a carbohydrate drink before and during exercise, taken to provide energy for the activity, and a protein source taken within 30 minutes after exercise. This provided the body with amino acids and other nutrients needed by the body to repair the “micro tears” in muscle tissues after any exercise, Dr Pearson said.

She measured an enormous array of factors before, during and after the eight to 12 week programme. These ranged from skeletal muscle mass, body mass index and muscle tendon strength, through hormone levels and levels of inflammatory substances called cytokines in the blood stream. “We are really the first to do this kind of work in older people.

“We also did functional tasks such as how quickly they could get up from a chair and cross a room or how long to get up if lying down.

“We did a lot of postural balance work. We did a lot of work on challenging their balance, for example standing on one leg and Tai Chi.”

The results were really quite striking, she believes. All groups showed improvements, but those who did best were the groups doing low to moderate exercise and who took the carbohydrate and protein supplementation. These did better than those who did the exercise but did not take the supplements.

There were improvements in skeletal muscle mass of up to 30 per cent, improvements across the board in functional tests and the inflammatory cytokines “were greatly reduced”.

Those undertaking the heavy exercise also saw improvements, Dr Pearson said, but these were not as striking, showing that regular low to moderate exercise was sufficient to improve mobility, reduce the risk of falls and promote activity in older age.

LINK: http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2008/0912/1221138437531.html

A great way to learn more about our company and our culture is to read our internal Company Newsletters that are meant for employees. We post them on our site for the public to read. Check them out here and check back each month for a new issue!

http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/newsletter.htm