Feels

Sometimes we just have to talk about feelings.  From time to time, I will ask clients about what they are feeling in their bodies while they are doing a particular exercise, or I might suggest a body part where sensation might be occurring.

 

The thing is, though, that sometimes what we’re feeling can have less of a relationship with reality than we might prefer.  (Anybody who has had an unrequited crush can speak to how the other kind of feelings has the same problem.)

 

Some clients love big feelings.  They want to feel the burn.  They want there to be absolutely no doubt that they are working and working hard.  There is nothing wrong with that.  However, there are times when we need to do things that are important that don’t have a big “feel factor.” 

 

One example is when we need to activate our deep back muscles.  A great way to get them to wake up is to get on our hands and knees with our wrists right under our shoulders, our knees right under our hips (ok to pad them up), our spines nice and straight.  From there, we hover one hand just off the floor.  Then we try the other side.  That’s it.  It doesn’t feel like much of anything.  And yet, if we try a one foot balance before and after, it makes a difference.

 

The takeaway:  feelings aren’t everything. 

Monday Workout: Kettle Bell

Kettle bells are always fun, right?  Three rounds.

 

db circles	30
rows	20
kickbacks	10
kb swings	30
kb twists	20
kb 8s	10
1 arm clean and press	30
(lunge to) curl	20
pretty princesses	10

 

Thursday List: 5

Need more reasons to work out?  Here are five:

 

1.     It makes us feel happier.

2.     It makes our brains work better.

3.     It increases resilience to stress.

4.     We balance better.

5.     It’s fun.

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