Miscellaneous: Beyond Muscles

When we think about reasons to exercise, especially weight training, we often think of the benefits to our muscles and maybe to our bones.  But there’s more!

When we get moving, we create positive impacts on waste management in all our body’s tissues.  What’s not to like about taking out the trash?

 

Furthermore, we help manage our body’s fluid levels, which has impact on our inflammation levels.  (Inflammation is kind of a buzz word nowadays, but it’s still a good idea to have less of it.)

 

Finally, we improve our circulation and that’s just dandy for everywhere circulation goes in the body (Hint:  pretty much everywhere!).

 

So:  move it, y’all!

Miscellaneous: Anxiety

Let’s talk about anxiety.  OK, maybe not ALL anxiety.  Just the exercise kind.

Anxiety and fear can make our fitness world seem very small, especially as we get older.  We worry that we’re going to get injured or fall.  We’re sure that we’re going to have to deal with more limitations and it’s just too much.  We’re resigned to couch life.

 

But that’s not a good plan, really.

 

I have a better one. 

 

Let’s keep working, keep moving, in a pain-free way.  As we develop osteoarthritis (yep, all of us do eventually), maybe our knees don’t bend the way they used to, but they still bend.  And if we make sure to bend them day in and day out, we’ll maintain the range of motion we have for longer.

 

When our workouts don’t involve pain, we’re a lot more likely to show up for them.  (Please note:  pain is not the same as discomfort.  Workouts, if they are effective, might involve some discomfort, but life is painful enough without adding more at the gym.)  When we show up regularly for our workouts, things get easier.  We get stronger.  We improve our balance and our flexibility.  We keep or improve our range of motion.

 

We might even relax a little with the anxiety.  We begin to have confidence that working out isn’t scary.

 

Go gently.  But do go.

Monday Workout: Shake Up

As you know, at the end of the month we try to shake things up a bit.  This format will look fairly familiar, in that the exercises come in threes, but we’re doing it differently.  We’ll only do 10 reps of each exercise, so we can choose heavier weights, and we will repeat each group three times before moving on to the next one.  Some of us will love this format and some of us will look forward to next week instead.

 

3 sets of 10 each
squat	lunges
overhead press	bent over row
bridge with leg lift	crunches
deadlift
dips
pushups
bird dog
Russian twist
plank

Thursday List: 4

Warming up before workouts becomes increasingly important as we get older.  Here are some things you might want to do in yours:

 

1.     cardio

2.     dynamic stretching

3.     plyometrics (jumping)

4.     balance work

Miscellaneous: Connections

In the book of Ezekiel, the prophet sees a valley full of dried bones.  (This is far from the weirdest thing he sees.  His visions could conceivably involve some serious drugs.)  God causes the bones to link up with each other and rebuild bodies.  From this chapter, we get the song “Them Bones” in which the knee bone connects to the thigh bone and so on.

The song, as anatomically incorrect as it can be, does have a point.

 

The parts of our bodies connect.  What happens in one part affects neighboring parts and ultimately the whole system.  This is why, for example, a person with a sprained ankle begins to feel pain in the opposite hip or side or even shoulder.  Each connected part compensates for the hurt bit and feels the strain of it.

 

We can frame this in a much more positive direction, though.  When we work on aligning any part of our body better, we improve the whole.  Working, say, on ankle mobility can make our knees and hips work better.  Getting a little more movement in our spines can help our shoulders.

 

The part affects the whole.  So anything we do is likely to be a Good Thing.

Miscellaneous: Closed and Open Chain

There are lots of ways to conceptualize how we move.  One of those ways involves describing whether a motion is open chain or closed chain.  (There’s also pseudo-closed chain, but I’ll leave that one out for now.)

A closed chain movement means that the body’s path through the motion is restricted in some way, say with a pushup.  The arms are against the ground and are not able to move in that direction. 

 

A bench press is the same motion, but with the arms free to move in space rather than stabilized against the ground.  It is an open chain activity.

 

As a rule, open chain movements provide more challenge for the body because we have to use our stabilizing systems to control things rather than some other barrier.  (All weights being equal, that is.)

 

Explore the exercises in your next workout:  which ones are open?  Which ones are closed?  Can you think of an exercise that works the same muscle groups with the other chain option?

 

Go play.

Monday Workout: Lots of Balance

We’re working balance here in a variety of ways.  The jacks activate our lateral body, which is important for our righting response (that thing where we catch ourselves as we start to fall).  We’re strengthening all the way around our core musculature with deadlifts, dumbbell circles, renegade rows, and brains.  We’re practicing our single leg squats.  And, of course, we’re just getting plain stronger.  Three rounds.

 

jacks	30
deadlifts	20
1 leg squats	10
db circle	30
skullcrushers	20
renegade row	10
squat raise	30
overhead press	20
brains	10