Monday, December 31, 2018

Monday Workout: Dealing with instability



This week straddles the years.  Whether we are ringing out the old or ringing in the new, we need the ability to deal with instability, which is why we are using the bosu.  Three rounds.

plank jacks
30
bench press
20
curls
10
bosu step ups
30
bosu squats
20
bosu pushups
10
Xiser
30
rows
20
pretty princesses
10

Friday, December 28, 2018

Friday Reading Report: Start with love



Basic Tenets of Health at Every Size is a list “developed by dieticians and nutritionists who are advocates of size acceptance; their efforts coordinated by Joanne P. Ikeda, MA, RD, Nutrition Education Specialist, Department of Nutritional Sciences, University of California, Berkeley” according to my nutrition textbook.  It is important stuff to remember, so I’m going to type it all out:

• Human beings come in a variety of sizes and shapes.  We celebrate this diversity as a positive characteristic of the human race.
• There is no ideal body size, shape, or weight that every individual should strive to achieve.
• Every body is a good body, whatever its size or shape.
• Self-esteem and body image are strongly linked.  Helping people feel good about their bodies and about who they are can help motivate and maintain healthy behaviors.
• Appearance stereotyping is inherently unfair to the individual because it is based on superficial factors over which the individual has little or no control.
• We respect the bodies of others even though they might be quite different from our own.
• Each person is responsible for taking care of his or her body.
• Good health is not defined by body size; it is a state of physical, mental, and social well-being.

As we approach the new year and the inevitable resolution crowd, it might not be a bad idea to consider adopting this list before creating any other resolutions about fitness.  We have to begin where we are.  Moving forward because we want to be more awesome is a much more pleasant prospect than beginning with the assumption that we are not acceptable the way we are now.  Let’s motivate ourselves from a place of love.

Thursday, December 27, 2018

Moving without leaving...



Over the weekend, I got a new floor installed in the studio. 

In order to do that, I (and my conscripted minions, who had to help me because they are my family and I hold dinner hostage) had to take everything out and then put it all back in.  Functional fitness, indeed.

The process functioned like moving, but I didn’t actually have to leave town.  It gave me a chance to evaluate what was working in the studio and what wasn’t.  I got to ask what I wanted to carry (literally and figuratively) forward and what I didn’t.  The new and improved space has a bit less clutter and a bit more focus on the essentials.

This is not bad advice for all of us as we move into the new year.  And y’all are welcome to come try out some new stuff in my improved space!