Wednesday, May 16, 2018

No zombies were harmed in the writing of this post



Sometimes when we think about the mind part of mind-body exercise, I think we imagine some sort of Zen-like trance thing happening.  If it does, cool beans.  There is, however, more to the story.

Mindful exercise isn’t just about breathing, although if we are not breathing, we certainly shouldn’t be exercising (Zombie workout, anyone?).  It also isn’t necessarily about relaxing.  We need to remain alert and aware of what our bodies are doing, which parts are working, which parts are holding the tension necessary for stability, and which parts can, in fact, chill out.  We need to hold our intellectual understanding of what is supposed to be happening up against what we are experiencing so that we can bring the knowing and the doing into harmony.  This process also works backward; sometimes what we experience allows us to correct our thinking.

There is a fancy word for this that I learned back in the nonprofit days:  praxis.  Praxis is the place where theory meets reality and both are enriched and changed.  We learn things, we try them out, we see what happens, we adjust what we know or what we do, and we repeat the process.

Let’s put our theories into practice and grow both.

Tuesday, May 15, 2018

Feeling hippy...



I confess that I’m a little obsessed with squats.  What is not to like about an exercise that uses lots of joints, promotes stability and mobility, increases strength, and helps keep us out of nursing homes?

Over the weekend, I learned more about squats.  I have new tools to evaluate squat performance and then to help improve that performance.  I even learned a couple of exercises that my clients will actually like that enable better squatting!

I realize that not everyone shares my enthusiasm, so I will limit myself to one example of improved squatting:  the hips need to move first.  When that happens, the knees bend only when the center of gravity falls too far backward, taking less pressure and allowing for deeper movement and even encouraging the feet to stay down longer for those of us whose heels rise when we go particularly deep into a squat.  Small changes can improve performance so much!!!

Let’s do it!

Monday, May 14, 2018

Monday Workout: There's a Twist!



Despite evidence to the contrary, we act as if life happens in straight lines.  In fitness, this sometimes means that we do lots of things that go forward and back or side to side, but ignore the twists.  This week, we have two exercises that work in the transverse (or twisting) plane:  the kettlebell twist and the overhead curtsy.  What we will get out of it is improved stability, balance practice, and maybe even some range of motion gains.  Three rounds.

kb swings
30
kb twists
20
kb 8s
10


Xiser
30
squats
20
curls
10


overhead curtsy
30
lunges
20
pretty princesses
10