Oilcan

I’ve talked before about what I call my oilcan exercises—the things I do every day to keep me from feeling like the Tin Man, all squeaky, rusty, and immobile.  I put together sets of oilcan exercises for my clients, too, because we need to move our bodies more than once or twice a week.

Oilcan exercises don’t have to take very long.  They make a great warm up or cool down for our other workouts, or they can be a stand-alone thing to do on rest days.  We want to make it easy to get these things done, so we don’t want hours and hours of stuff that we won’t do.  At most, they should take ten or fifteen minutes, but five is more likely.

 

What the oilcan exercises are varies by person.  Each of us has different problem areas.  A person with knee issues will focus on stuff to strengthen and protect the knees.  People with back pain have a different set of things to do.  Over time, we need to evaluate what we’re doing and see if we can give up some things or need to add a few new ones.

 

Want your own set?  Poke me and we’ll talk.

After Injury or Surgery

Recovery from injury or surgery can be really frustrating.  Those of us who rely on movement for mood and stress management can get a little squirrelly while we (impatiently) wait for the body to heal.  But, trust me, it is worth it.

 

Any injury that requires medical attention is something that your trainer needs to know about.  I want to know what the doctor has to say about when my clients can return to workouts, what movements they should avoid, and how to help them get back to normal safely.  Often this means that I don’t get to see them until they are released from physical therapy.

 

Physical therapists are awesome humans who know how to safely rehab people’s injuries or post-surgical selves.  They are kind people who hurt us for our own good as we regain strength and confidence.  When they say we’re good to go, we can get back to our normal workouts.  The things they have us do may not be as fun as our usual workouts, but diligently doing the exercises they give us makes the difference between coming back strong and maybe not getting to come back at all.

 

When we do return to normal workouts, we need to expect that it will take a bit of time to get back to where we were when we left off.  This is normal, if frustrating.  Remember:  we can only work out with today’s body.

 

Worst case, we focus on exercising our patience. 

Monday Workout: Glutes

It’s time to work the glutes!  Among other things, of course.  Three rounds.

 

 

step up (reverse lunge)	30
deadlift/good morning	20
donkey kick	10
1 arm clean and press	30
rows	20
bridge chest press	10
opposite knees	30
kickbacks	20
plank walk	10

  

The Amazing Stickie and Cossack Lunge

The Amazing Stickie has amazing hips and legs, natch.  Today she is working on them by doing Cossack lunge.  She begins standing up straight with her hands clasped in front of her chest.  She takes a giant step out to one side, externally rotating both legs and bending the knee toward which she is stepping.  (Most people should probably not go past the point where the thigh on the stepping leg is parallel to the floor, at first.) The foot on the the non-bent leg should be pointing up toward the ceiling (i.e., heel on the floor, toes up!).

 

If you have knee problems, this exercise is one to approach with caution.  Don’t do it if it hurts.

Stickie does twenty or thirty for a set. 

More About Couches and Cake

Yesterday, joking around, I said that my best advice was to lie on the couch and eat cake.  There are, however, times when that might actually be the best advice.

As a fitness professional, it is my job to get people to move and to make general suggestions about healthy diet (specific suggestions and menu planning are the province of dieticians and nutritionists, who have a whole bunch more education than I do on the topic and a different scope of practice).  While I admit that I have The Very Best Clients Ever, who may not be a representative sample of folks in general, I have to say that sometimes they could use a bit of a break.  I love exercise, but, like everything else, too much is too much.

 

This is a bit of a digression, but only a bit:  if I had been consulted about the fitness app for the Apple Watch, I would have explained about rest days.  We do not need to work out seven days a week.  That seventh day is for resting.  As we get more fit, resting might mean a gentle walk or a couple of stretches rather than straight-on couch time, but the point remains:  we all need to rest.

 

Similarly, I don’t see the point of life without cake.  OK:  slight exaggeration.  Life is better with cake and other festive foods.  We need celebration as well as rigor in our lives.  I’m not advocating for diving face first into the chocolate cake on a daily basis, but maybe we can step away from the danger of orthorexia (yes that’s a real thing, an eating disorder in which people get obsessed with eating only healthy foods).

 

Work hard.  Eat right.  And sometimes take a break.

Best Advice

Today I’m going to share some of my very best advice on exercise and diet.  Here we go:  lie on the couch all day and eat cake.

 

April Fools!

 

(Seriously:  move a little and eat a vegetable.) 

Monday Workout: Prize?

We made it to the end of another month.  Sadly, our prize is burpees.  This is a short circuit, so try four rounds.

 

1 min cardio
skier jumps	30
bench press	20
pushup renegade row	10
flies	20
burpees	10
pretty princesses	10