Fresh: Pilates 1

Pilates, like all practices, can fall into ruts.  We show up, we plop down on the reformer and we go through the motions.  Uncle Joe would applaud that we showed up and yet be disappointed in our behavior, maybe.

One of the easiest ways I’ve found to wake up in Pilates is to switch equipment.  For a lot of the repertoire, there are versions of the exercises for use on the reformer, or trap table, or ladder barrel, or chair, or spine corrector, or mat, or all of the above.  When we move from one piece of equipment to another, we may find ourselves in a different relationship to gravity.  We may experience resistance in different ways.  We may learn different qualities of motion.

 

If we are habitual users of the equipment, doing a mat workout can be instructive.  Similarly, mat class habitués may find enlightenment in using the equipment.

 

Change is good in this context, friends.

Monday Workout: Balance Lots of Ways

We’re working balance in a variety of ways this week.  Obviously, the single leg work works on it, but the skier jumps and the dumbbell pullovers with bridge also recruit what we need when we have to balance.  Three rounds.

 

tap backs	30
1 leg deadlift	20
1 leg squat	10
squat raise	30
gorilla row	20
curls	10
skier jump	30
db pullover with bridge	20
brains	10

Fresh: 4

More strength fresheners:

 

1.     Change the tempo.

2.     Try a circuit.

3.     Swap machines for free weights or vice versa.

4.     Change the usual order.

Fresh: Strength 2

Another approach to freshening our weight workouts is to adjust the variables.  These include the number of reps, the number of sets, and the intensity (or what weight we use as a percentage of our single rep maximum).

Captain Obvious would like a word here.  We don’t want to increase all the variables at once.  If we choose, for example, to do a lot more reps, we’re going to need to choose lighter weights.  We need to be fresh-minded (yes, I just made that word up), paying attention to our bodies as we work to know when we have had enough.

 

Again, we don’t have to switch all the variables for all our workouts.  Making one a week or one a month different can be plenty to keep our bodies entertained and growing.

Fresh: Strength 1

When it comes to strength training, freshness can be a challenging concept.  Strength training is one of those things that thrives on habit and routine.  The trick is to make change part of the routine.  In fact, without a certain amount of freshness, our strength training can’t get best results because our bodies develop in response to the stresses we put on them.  If we’re always doing the same things the same way, we stop growing.

One easy way to freshen things up in the weight room (ok:  not just by cleaning it, although I am 100% in favor of cleanliness and fresh air in the weight room) is to try a new exercise.  If finding a new exercise seems like a lot of work, make it even simpler and try a variation on an exercise already in your repertoire (e.g., swap the regular squats for jump squats, sumo squats, prisoner squats, goblet squats, or any of the other million different kinds).

 

Another approach is to combine exercises into compound movements.  This is where we do things like lunge-to-curl or push presses.  Not only does this give us a new take on the component parts, but it also works more of our bodies at once, which is just efficient!

 

Go play.

Monday Workout: Deceptive!

Farmer carry is one of those deceptive exercises.  We’re just walking around with weights; how hard can it be?  When I deep clean the studio, I do a LOT of farmer carries and let me say:  it is not easy.  Use the heaviest weights you can manage.  Three rounds.

 

db circles	30
skullcrushers	20
shoulder tap pushups	10
squat to leg lift/ticktock	30
flies	20
lateral raises	10
farmer carry	30
bench press	20
pretty princesses	10

 

Fresh: 3

Three ways to make cardio fresher:

 

1.     Change the speed.

2.     Change the time.

3.     Change the intensity.

 

Up or down!  You pick!