Miscellaneous: Symmetry and Asymmetry

Humans, you might think, are pretty symmetrical, if you were to divide us in half along the line of our noses, breastbones, and on down.  We’ve got an eye and an ear on each side, an arm and leg apiece, for the most part.  Functionally, though, not so much.  Most of us have a preferred hand to do things with, a stronger leg to stand on, and even a preferred eye.  These preferences shape our shapes, so to speak.  What’s strong gets stronger and what we use less dwindles.  That’s normal, and yet it causes problems for us.

 

What can we do about it?

 

We can train asymmetrically.  That is, we can work one arm or leg at a time.  Think about, say, single arm clean and press, or doing curls one arm at a time.

 

I love asymmetrical work for a variety of reasons.  One is that it demands more stabilization, so it automatically strengthens our core musculature and improves our balance.  I mean, right there is enough reason to do it!

 

Another reason to work that way is that our strong side can’t help the other side.  We see exactly where we are on each side of the body.  (This is why I prefer to have clients do things like bench press with dumbbells rather than barbells.  It’s not strictly asymmetric training, but each arm has its own burden to bear by itself.)  Getting the less strong side to do its fair share of the work helps us avoid overuse injuries on the other side.

 

Yet one more reason to do it:  it challenges our brains to flip from side to side.  We get smart as we get strong.

 

Go play.

Miscellaneous: Balance Factors

I’m a little obsessed with balance.  It’s just so important for our long-term health and safety.

Balance depends on several things.

 

One is basic strength.  If we only have one leg to stand on, it had better be a pretty strong leg.  All of our usual strength training habits are good for this one.

 

Flexibility and mobility also play important roles in balance.  We don’t spend our lives like statues.  Our balance has to be a dynamic thing.  That means we need supple muscles and good range of motion at our joints to adapt to changing conditions.

 

Perhaps the most interesting factor in developing balance is novelty.  Our brains really like new experiences and new ways of doing things challenge our bodies to adapt.  That means that some days we need to do tree pose and other days we want to play games with the BOSU or try a slack line.

 

When we play, we learn.

Monday Workout: 3D

As three-dimensional beings, it’s good to remember that we can move lots of different ways.  We are working laterally, sagitally, and diagonally today.  Three rounds.

 

step touch	30
bench press	20
Arnold press	10
suitcase swing	30
rows	20
pushup with shoulder tap	10
woodchppers	30
Bulgarian split squat	20
plank saw	10

 

Thursday List: 5

What to do:  a review

 

1.     cardio

2.     strength training

3.     flexibility work

4.     balance work

5.     fun stuff

Miscellaneous: Righting Response

Because I am a responsible trainer and Pilates instructor, I keep up with my continuing education.  I often learn little tidbits that I like to pass along.  Recently, an instructor in a course I was taking said that when we are training balance, we actually want to lose our balance from time to time.

I thought:  WHAT?

 

Here is the thinking.  When we are unstable and we lose our balance in a safe environment, we train our righting response, or, in other words, our bodies learn how to catch us.  This, I think, is akin to learning how to fall in martial arts training.

 

The broader lesson is this:  learning comes through mistakes and failure.  If we are succeeding at everything we are doing in our workouts, we are limiting our growth.  I am NOT saying that we should do unsafe things, just that we can push ourselves just a little bit past our comfort zone in order to enlarge that very zone.

Miscellaneous: Walk to School

This month’s blog is going to be about the random little items I learn or questions I am asked.

Recently, one of my clients asked me about ankle weights.  She walks her kids to school, so she was wondering if the weights would help her maximize what she had to do anyway or if they were just a gimmick.

 

What I told her is this:  there are better ways to get bang for your buck out of this daily activity.  Here’s why.

 

Ankle weights are not very heavy.  They won’t result in much strength improvement, but they will increase fatigue. 

 

On the other hand, the idea of adding weight to the equation is not a bad one.  She could consider rucking.  Rucking is basically walking with weights on your back (as in rucksack).  Throwing a dumbbell (or, hey, a bunch of books!) in a backpack for the walk will make the walk burn more calories and increase strength, endurance, and core strength.  Rucking vests are also a thing, but personally I tend to try to use what’s on hand first before buying more stuff.

 

Another way to amp up that morning walk is to rope the kids in to some interval training.  Kids often do this naturally when walking with (slow, boring) adults.  They’ll run to the corner and wait for the adult to catch up.  Making the walk an interval for the adult would be more like everybody running to the corner, walking safely across the street, walking briskly to the next corner (or skipping, or hopping, or whatever), walking safely across the street, running to the next corner, and so on.

 

A third way to add value to the morning walk is to use the wait times.  Those traffic lights are things we all have to wait for.  Might as well get in some squats or some lunges or some jacks.  Maybe even some balance work.  The kids might join in or they might just roll their eyes at how embarrassing parents can be.  Either way, that’s a win.

 

Monday Workout: Opposites

Sometimes it is fun to do an exercise and its opposite back to back like we do this week with the flies and reverse flies.  Punching forward and then kicking back has a similar feel.  Three rounds.

 

db kicks	30
flies	20
reverse flies	10
kb alt arm swing	30
kb hammer curl	20
kb halo	10
(lunge) punches	30
kickbacks	20
side banana	10