Wellness Check: Movement 2

If we’re already nailing the part where we move our bodies on the regular, it might be time to consider whether we’re getting enough exercise.  All bodies need exercise; what that exercise consists of varies from body to body.  What follows are some general principles that need to be applied with love and common sense.

There are three categories of exercise that most people need:  cardio, strength training, and balance/flexibility work.  The guideline for cardio is that we need to get our heart rate up for about 150 minutes per week, which works out to 30 minutes a day for five days.  There is some math we can do to figure out what constitutes “up” (220 minus your age gives you your maximum heart rate.  Your cardio range is from 65-85% of that number.), but I personally like the talk test better:  if you can talk with some pauses for breath, you’re working hard enough; if you can sing, you’re not doing the job; if you can’t carry on a conversation, you’re doing too much.  How you get your heart rate up is up to you.  The possibilities are legion:  walk, run, swim, bike, play soccer, chase the kids, do stairs, dance…  Bottom line:  five days, 30 minutes, briskly.

 

For strength training, we want to do one to three strength workouts per week.  What we do depends on our goals.  Talking to a trainer (hey, that’s me!) can help clarify what might be a good idea.  No matter what the goals are, we want to use weights heavy enough that it’s hard for us to complete the final rep in a set.  The number on the dumbbell should go up as we keep working, not every time, but every couple months at least.

 

Balance and flexibility are skills.  I know a lot of us think of them as talents, but both things improve with practice.  There are a couple of ways to go about that practice.  There are always yoga and Pilates classes or individual sessions (yep, me again!).  However, we can use those otherwise wasted minutes throughout our day to build in some practice time.  We can stand on one foot while we brush our teeth.  We can stretch while we wait for the microwave.  We can do some single leg squats in line at the grocery store (bonus points for amusing our fellow shoppers).

 

If all that still seems complicated, talk to me.  I’d be happy to help sort it out.

Wellness Check: Movement 1

It may not be the official start of summer, but June is here.  The beginning of a new season is a good time to check in with where we are with our wellness.  How are those goals we might have made back in January?  Or, more basically, how are we feeling?  Over the month, I’ll be gently reminding us all about the different pillars of our wellness.  This week, we’re talking about movement.

So here we go.

 

Today is one of those times when I might seem overly concerned with distinctions.  Sorry/not sorry.  Exercise and movement, while related, are not the same thing.  I am absolutely in favor of both of them (I mean, that’s my job), but when we’re talking wellness, we are not necessarily talking about exercise.

 

Movement is anything we do that is more energetic than pushing buttons on the remote while we sit on the couch.  It includes things like weeding the garden, trudging up and down the stairs to put away laundry, walking a dog who clocks negative miles per hour and sniffs every plant along the sidewalk, and the like.

 

Exercise is a little more focused.  We have a purpose when we exercise, whether that is getting stronger, working our hearts and lungs, improving balance, or beating that other team at pickleball.

 

Like I said, both are good for us.  Even those of us who do exercise regularly need to think a little about movement.  I’m pretty sure everyone has heard the phrase that sitting is the new smoking.  I wouldn’t go that far, but it’s increasingly clear in the research that putting in a half hour at the gym and then sitting the rest of the day is not our best path.  Humans need to wiggle.

 

So:  are we all getting our wiggle on?

Monday Workout: Usual

This week we’re just doing our usual compound exercises.  Full body work is always good.  Three rounds.

 

jacks	30
good morning/deadlift	20
Arnold press	10
squat raise	30
bench press	20
pushups	10
suitcase swing	30
flies	20
Russian twist	10

 

Mother May I: 5

We made it to the end of the month!  Hooray for us!  But there is one last permission I’m granting:  permission to rest.  Here are some ways to incorporate rest:

 

1.     Between sets.

2.     Between rounds.

3.     On vacation.

4.     On rest days.

5.     When we’re sick/tired.

 

Rest is where we heal and get stronger!

Mother May I: Far

There might be a theme emerging here.  Yesterday, I said we didn’t have to go far if we didn’t want to.  Today I would like to emphasize that we are allowed to go far, too.  Just because somebody else thinks is silly to ride 100 miles on a bike or run a marathon or do a triathlon doesn’t mean we need to listen to them.  Some of us really love our endurance events and that’s cool.

The overarching principle here, as in the whole month, is that we get to choose what our workouts are based on what works for us.  We are allowed to have whatever workout we want.

 

Anybody who argues with us about this can be ignored.

 

Go play.

Mother May I: Not Far

This week’s permissions are similar to last week’s.  Today, we have permission not to go far.

While it is true that often the hardest part of a workout is starting it, we can get overwhelmed by the sense that we can’t just run; we have to run far.  We can’t just go for a swim; we have to do a gazillion laps.  And so on.

 

Some days, we just don’t have a lot of oomph to work with.  On those days, we do, in fact, get credit just for showing up.  We may not build a lot of muscles in our body, but our character muscles get bigger.

Monday Workout: Bit Different

The end-of-month circuit, as usual, is a bit different.  My goals with the shorter circuit include some cardio challenge (see woodchoppers immediately after a minute of cardio of choice, and back to back burpees and tap backs), some endurance challenge (doing the other exercises in the circuit after the cardio bits without resting), and practice with challenge (hiya, burpees!).  As always, I love my compound exercises that work a bunch of stuff at once.  Ideally, we do four rounds, but use good judgment about what is best.

 

1 min cardio
woodchoppers	30
flies	20
burpees	10
tap backs	30
bench press	20
brains	10