Thursday List: Future We Will Thank Us

I asked y’all for your favorite proactive practices (a.k.a. things that We Now can do for We in the Future) yesterday.  Here are mine:

 

1.     Make a workout plan for the week.  This can be as simple as knowing that weight days are Tuesdays and Thursdays and Monday, Wednesday, and Friday are for cardio, with yoga on Saturday and Sunday for rest.  Or you can get fancy and make a spreadsheet that lists exactly what you’re planning to do each day down to exercises, weights, and reps.

2.     Pack the bag.  Or repack it.  What we need in that bag varies by activity, but stocking the stuff we need before we need it is just smart.  That way we don’t get caught without our emergency snack or our goggles or that extra shirt we like.

3.     Put out the clothes.  This is a variation on packing the bag for those of us who roll straight from bed to workout.  If the clothes are right there, we can get dressed and going before we’re awake enough to think of excuses.

4.     Put out the water bottle.  Heck, if you’ve got an insulated one or you like your water at room temperature, you can fill it ahead of time.  Cold-water lovers can prep the water and leave it in the fridge, but personally, I forget stuff I can’t see, so I do better filling at the last minute with cold water and ice.

5.     Choose the music.  That might sound silly, but I can spend forever scrolling through playlists to find the right one.  If I choose ahead of time, I don’t stand there wasting time; I just get to work.

Hobgoblin!

One of my favorite quotes from my homie Ralph Waldo Emerson is this one:  “A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds.”  So I’m now going to say something that, on the surface, contradicts what I said yesterday about how we need change to thrive.  We also need habits.

When we are doing hard things, like working out, it helps if we make the process easy on ourselves by reducing the load elsewhere.  Routine is really good for this.  It’s a lot easier to work out if my gear is right there when I roll out of bed, I know what I’m going to have for breakfast, and I have a workout plan.  We can prep all those things ahead of time so that we don’t have a bunch of excuses about why we can’t go, or so that we get there smoothly with all the right stuff.  Then we have enough spoons left to do the actual workout.

 

What is your favorite thing that You Now can do for You In The Future?

Change...

Anyone who has been following along knows that I have a favorite workout format.  I like that the structure becomes familiar even while I can plug in different kinds of exercises as I learn new things, as my clients’ needs change, or just for fun.

 

However, even the best systems need to change from time to time.  I try out other formats on myself and then roll them out sometimes for my clients.  It keeps all of us from becoming bored and ensures that we keep making progress.  Bodies thrive when we give them new challenges at appropriate levels.

So:  what new stuff do you like to try? 

Monday Workout: Compound

I love compound exercises because we get a lot done in few movements.  Also we ramp up our metabolisms.  Three rounds.

 

split squat pulldown	30
bench press	20
shoulder tap pushup	10
squat to leg lift	30
gorilla row	30
lateral raise	10
farmer carry	30
skullcrushers	20
V legs	10

Thursday List: Water Hints

A few suggestions about how to get more water in our systems:

 

1.     Add a little something, like a slice of lemon or lime, or some mint leaves.

2.     Figure out the right temperature.  Some of us want lots of ice and some of us prefer room temperature water.  It all works.

3.     Find the right cup/bottle/whatever.  Personally, my insulated cup was a game-changer.  Plus it’s red.

4.     Consider the plastics.  Not technically about drinking more water, but the world would be better if we drank less bottled water from plastic bottles.  (I like my water with fizz in it and invested in a Soda Stream so I could stop buying so many bottles.  Economical and good for the environment!)

5.     Set reminders.  Until drinking a lot of water becomes a habit, we can use little nudges.

More on water

A follow-up to yesterday’s reminder about drinking water:  here’s why.

Most of our bodies’ processes require water.  No water means no processing.

 

Even a slight amount of dehydration can make us crabby.  No one wants that.

 

We often mistake thirst for hunger.  While we can get some hydration from juicy foods like fruits, drinking water is better at hydrating us and also keeps us from blowing the calorie budget.  Further, water helps our digestion move along what we’ve already eaten.

 

Our brains work better when we’re hydrated.  Who doesn’t want to feel smarter?

 

Drink up, y’all.

Drink your water

Friendly reminder:  drink some water.  Most of us don’t drink enough.  How to tell?  If we aren’t going to the bathroom every hour or so, we’re not drinking enough.  Also, if what comes out is not very pale and clear, we’re also not drinking enough.

Different sources will tell us different things about whether our morning coffee and all those other things we drink count toward our water total.  I’m not going to weigh in on that particular issue except to suggest, strongly, that most of what we drink should be water.  We don’t need the calories and/or chemicals in all those other things (OK:  caffeine addiction is real and understandable, but eventually, we gotta clear that stuff out…).

 

If it is very hot or we are working out for more than a couple of hours, we might need to get some electrolytes as well as our water, but most people doing normal workouts do fine with water.

 

The best way to drink plenty of water is to carry it around all the time.  Yeah, we look silly, but we feel better.

 

Go drink!