Substitute!

Sometimes the person we are when we plan our workouts is not the person we are when it comes time to do the workouts.  This can happen for any number of reasons (alien invasion, cranky baby, sore hammies…).  Why it happens is not that important.  Having a backup plan is, however, helpful.

I was recently reading a habit blog that suggested making a list of things that make us feel good for those times when we need to be reminded of how to feel good.  I am shamelessly stealing the concept and applying it to our workouts.  We need to make a list of exercises or a list of workouts that make us feel good.

 

In practice, this might mean that when we look at our planned workout, see that there are burpees, and think we might die right then, we choose, instead, to substitute an exercise we like for the burpees, like maybe flies.  Another way this could work is that we could look at our planned weight workout, recognize that we’re sore already, and choose some restorative Pilates instead.  We can all adapt.  We just have to remember to plan for it!

 

Go play.

When it hurts...

We all overdo ourselves from time to time.  Maybe we were on vacation and we were hiking and it turned out to be more strenuous than we expected.  Maybe we were trying to impress that cute person in the gym and we lifted more than was good for us.  Maybe it was just one of those days.  Now everything hurts.  What do we do?

First, we need to decide if we’re sore or actually injured.  If we think we might have an injury, we want to seek qualified medical advice.  (I am not a doctor, a physical therapist, or anything like it, so I do not diagnose or prescribe treatment; get real help when needed!)

 

If we’re just really darn sore, I can make some suggestions that might help.  Pain, while useful in keeping us from doing too many dumb things, is not a fun thing to experience.

 

Take ibuprofen or your favorite OTC pain reliever as appropriate.  This is not being wimpy.  Pain relief is a good thing.  We are nicer when we don’t hurt.

 

Use ice or heat.  Ice is particularly good for anything that feels inflamed or swollen.  Heat soothes when things feel tense.  Bonus points for heat in the form of a soak in Epsom salts, which will add to the soothing.

 

Move a little.  This one may sound counterintuitive.  We got this way from moving too much!  But a little gentle movement really will help the body heal by keeping everything from stiffening up.

 

Rest.  Duh.  We need to stop doing what made us sore until we feel better.  A good night of sleep or two will also help.

Monday Workout: Compound

We’re all about the compound exercises this week to build our metabolisms and challenge our bodies.  Three rounds.

 

plank jacks	30
lunge to curl	20
Arnold press	10
sumo squat to high pull	30
flies	20
1 leg deadlift	10
leg kicks	30
bench press	20
pretty princess	10

 

The Amazing Stickie and Medicine Ball Soccer Throw

The Amazing Stickie loves to play with medicine balls.  Today she’s doing medicine ball soccer throws.  (She’s demonstrating doing it by herself, which means that after each throw, she has to walk and pick up the ball to do the next throw.  She could also do this with a friend and they could toss the ball to each other.)  She begins standing with good posture holding the medicine ball behind her head.  Maintaining good posture, she lifts the ball over her head and tosses it in front of her.  Sets of 10 are good.

Injury Prevention, part 2

Yesterday we discussed in-workout strategies for injury prevention.  Today we’ll look at general lifestyle choices that help.

The first big thing to do to prevent injury is to get enough sleep.  Tired people make mistakes and workout mistakes make injuries.  Getting enough sleep can be a challenge in our all-hustle-all-the-time culture, but please, let’s fight the dominant paradigm enough to get our rest.  It’s worth it.

 

Another basic choice for injury prevention is proper nutrition.  When we don’t have the nutrients we need to build our bodies or to run our cellular processes, we are less resilient, more likely to get hurt, and more likely to take a long time to heal.  Our bodies can only run so long on caffeine and sugar.  Throw the cells a vegetable now and then, please.

 

Another thing we can do to help keep ourselves injury free is to reduce our overall muscle tension.  The cheap way to do that is to spend quality time with a foam roller or tune-up balls.  The luxurious way is to make massage a habit.  The time and money we spend on relaxing are investments in our wellbeing.

 

So:  sleep, eat, relax.

Injury Prevention, Part 1

We’re going to spend a couple of days talking about injury prevention.  Today we’re focusing on things to do during our workouts that help and tomorrow we’ll talk about lifestyle changes that keep us less likely to get hurt.

The first thing we want to do in our workouts to prevent injury is to warm up.  I have to admit that I was a slow adopter of warm-ups.  Some of that is just that I was younger then and my body was more forgiving.  And, even if I wasn’t a big believer in it, it doesn’t mean that my body didn’t have to warm up; my movement naturally got better and bigger and stronger once my body warmed up by doing whatever I was going to be doing anyway.  Those of us who are smarter than I used to be will want to do an intentional warm-up of at least five minutes before jumping into the main part of our workout.  Gentle cardio, some stretching, and a few body weight exercises are good choices for that.

 

We also want to protect vulnerable body parts.  What that means will vary with our bodies.  Some of us will need to be extra careful about having supportive shoes.  Others of us will want our ankle support or our wrist support.  Obviously, the bikers among us need to wear helmets.  We may also want to use some kinesiology tape to increase blood flow to particular areas.

 

During those workouts, we want to ensure that we spend some time working on core and balance work.  Practicing balance helps us prepare for life’s little surprises.  A strong core means that we can react gracefully to whatever comes along.

 

Proper form is crucial to injury prevention.  When, say, we do our lunges without paying attention to knee alignment, we add strain to our knee ligaments.  Similarly, a lack of focus on glute engagement can put pressure on our knees.  We want to work with our best possible alignment from top to bottom to make our movements as efficient and safe as possible.

 

Finally, we want to make sure we stretch.  Flexibility training gives us the appropriate range of motion to do our workouts safely.

 

Now go play.

Monday Workout: Planes!

We are working in every plane this week: sagittal, frontal, and transverse.  In other words, we’re going back and forth, side to side, and twisting!  This, plus the asymmetric exercises, will help with our balance and core control.  Three rounds.

 

jacks	30
renegade rows	20
pushups	10
overhead curtsy	30
deadlifts	20
1 leg squat	10
side lunge 1 arm row/raise	30
lateral raise	20
brains	10