What's for dinner?

Most of us could use a little help choosing wisely when it comes to food.  Here are four questions to ask ourselves about food.

 

1.     Have I had enough water today?  (Hint:  the answer is probably no.  Most of us don’t drink nearly enough water.)  If we aren’t going to the bathroom every hour or so, we need to drink more.  And yes, water is the best choice, but I’m not going to get between anybody and their morning coffee or tea.

2.     When was the last time I had a vegetable or fruit?  Most of us would do well to focus a bit more on the produce and a bit less on the meats and starches.  We all get plenty of protein and fat; what we need are vitamins, minerals, and fiber, which come, in many cases, from colorful fruits and veggies.

3.     Am I actually hungry?  We eat for lots of reasons besides hunger.  We eat for comfort.  We eat when we are bored.  We eat because other people are eating.  We eat because Mom made dinner.

4.     How much food do I want?  Sometimes we decide based on the size of the plate, or the portion someone dished out to us rather than the amount that we need or want.

 

Choose wisely! 

I took this picture in New York, actually...

Let’s talk about maps.  When we’re looking at maps on the neighborhood level, we realize that there are lots of ways to get where we are going.  Zoomed out, though, if we want to get from, say, California to New York, we want those ways to tend in an easterly direction.  Both of these views are useful as metaphors for how we approach fitness.

 

The local angle means that we have a lot of options for what we do today.  We can get to the store on the freeway or on the back streets.  Some ways will be more fun than others, some will be quicker, but we will still end up at the store.  Which is to say:  we want some cardio fitness?  We can work out at a low intensity for a long time, or a high intensity for a short time.  We can dance, ski, bike, swim, run, kayak, or whatever makes our hearts go pitter-pat (literally!).  All the things will work.

 

The wider angle means that we want our workouts to tend to improve what we’d like more of in our lives.  Dancers dance.  Marathon runners run.  The strength and flexibility work those two kinds of athletes do are all in service of their larger goals.  They still have lots of options, but they all veer toward the distant goal.

 

(If you have a destination in mind, you can ask me and we can make a map together!)

 

Go play!

Attitudes on Attitude

I am not one of those people who is going to say that attitude is everything.  That workout that we complained the whole way through?  It still worked.  And maybe all that whining and groaning made the difference between doing it and not doing it.

 

That said, we will be happier if we bring some kinds of attitude to our thinking about our workouts.  If, before and after the work, we devalue what we do or did, we discourage ourselves from doing it at all.  If we evaluate our selves rather than our work, we are not likely to feel all that good, because not one of us is perfect—there is always someone out there stronger or younger or thinner or more whatever than we are.

 

The attitude I like best (even if I don’t always achieve it) is one of loving curiosity.  I look at my week’s worth of workouts and I try to see why it went well or why it didn’t without passing judgment on myself.  Maybe I missed a workout.  Maybe that was because I stayed up too late the night before watching tv.  I might decide that was not worth it, but if I was up too late laughing and playing games with my family, I might decide that my health needs that, too.  And I might also figure out that just because I usually work out in the morning, it doesn’t mean that I have to do it then if I need a little more sleep first.

 

Or let’s say I tried something new, some different yoga routine.  At the end of the week, I can see what my body feels like and decide if I like what this particular batch of exercises does.  If I do, great!  I know what I want to do in the new week.  If not, I can think about what I want to try instead.  It all goes better if I don’t say, “You know, I really suck at this and I’m never going to get better at it and I don’t know why I even try.  And by the way, I’m ugly and stupid and useless and worthless and who picked out those clothes?  I did?  UGH!”  (Other people’s inner monologues might be nicer and more creative than mine, but I do know how to make myself feel small…)

 

The point here is:  we can bitch all we want while we work, but we need to save some kindness for the evaluation and planning bits.

 

Go play. 

Monday Workout: Strong

This week we continue to work balance, coordination, and strength.  As always, adjust to what works in your body.  Three rounds.

 

mountain climbers	30
1 leg squat	20
Arnold press	10
kb swings	30
kb twists	20
kb 8s	10
suitcase swings	30
lunge to curl	20
brains	10

Five

Yesterday I talked about starting small.  Here are five small changes to try:

 

1.     Stretch before getting out of bed.  In the morning, our muscles need to wake up, too.  Our fascia gets all gummed up to our muscles, too, and needs to loosen up a bit.  A whole body stretch and maybe a spinal twist or two will improve our day.

2.     Put back one scoop.  Portion control is one of the keys to avoiding weight gain or promoting weight loss.  Try scooping out one less spoonful of casserole and see if it helps.

3.     Go to bed on time.  “On time” can mean different things to each of us, but aim for a time that allows for enough healthy sleep.  No, I am not sorry if this means we have to wait another day to finish binging that series.

4.     Meditate for five minutes.  We don’t have to get fancy.  Just sit and breathe quietly for five minutes.  The brain needs a break, too.

5.     Go for a walk.  Even if we just go to the end of the block.  Outside is good for us.

 

Go play.

Change is hard

Change is hard.  When we contemplate changing, even for the better, we face obstacles.

 

One of the most common obstacles is fear of failure.  We want to take better care of ourselves, but in the back of our minds, we remember all those other times we said, “This time it’s going to work.”  And it didn’t.  This is why I am in favor of ridiculously easy first steps.  We don’t start with a marathon.  We start with a few stretches and a short walk.

 

The sneakier obstacle is fear of success.  If it turns out that we can, in fact, get stronger and healthier, what ELSE might we be capable of doing?  Will our loved ones still recognize and love us?  Will our friends get annoyed or jealous?  It’s pretty scary when we find out that we are, in fact, pretty awesome.  Still, we start small, which gives both ourselves and those around us time to get used to the whole idea.

 

We CAN make changes.  We are strong.  And I am always here if anybody needs me.

Experiment!

I talk a lot about what works for me, personally.  But I recently realized that because I’m a “trained professional,” that might give the impression that what works for me is What Works.  What works for me might not work for anyone else.  That said, HOW I figured out what works for me can be helpful to pretty much anyone.

 

People who put working out on their calendar and then show up because it’s written down do exist.  The rest of us try not to resent them for their superiority and try not to make fun of them for their obedience to the Calendar Gods.  Those folks have already done the figuring and have found their answer.  (It is certainly worth a try!)

 

The short version of my method for those of us who can’t manifest stuff by writing it or typing it in the box for the day is:  experiment.

 

Experiment one:  try working out at different times of day.  Some people do best sleeping in their gym clothes, rolling out of bed, and getting right to work.  Some of us think this is cruel and unusual punishment and would much rather finish the work day and transition to the rest of life via some good sweat.  Still others of us want to get the kids settled at their schoolwork and then start lifting.  The after-lunch workout is totally a good thing if it works.

 

Experiment two:  try different kinds of cardio.  All of them work, but not all of them make everyone happy.  I know runners who hate swimming, bikers who hate running, dancers who just want to boogie.  Ideally, we will find a favorite that we can make really easy to do for ourselves and an alternate or two for variety.  (I hesitate to use myself as an example, but I’m the closest one, so here goes…)  Most of the time, I do spin.  When I get tired of that, I walk or hike.  In the summer, I mix it up with some swimming.

 

Experiment three:  add some weights.  Some folks just want to tone up a bit.  Others of us want big muscles.  And some of us feel empowered by lifting the heaviest things we can.  We have to try it to see.  Maybe we feel great doing weights weekly; maybe we feel even better working out with weights twice a week.  The only way to know is to test it out.

 

Experiment four:  find your bribe.  This can take lots of forms.  Everyone has days when we just don’t want to do it.  Maybe we bribe ourselves with a soak in a hot bath.  Maybe we tell ourselves we don’t get our coffee until we’re done.  What motivates one person does not motivate others.

 

Experiment five (and last, for now):  treat ourselves with love.  It is super easy to beat ourselves up over our perceived failures.  Change is hard.  Approaching all these experiments with curiosity and kindness lets us find out how best to do it.  Sometimes experiments fail (like me trying to show up by writing stuff on my calendar).  It’s just information.  We take it and try something else.

 

Go play.

Monday Workout: Up a notch

This week we’re taking our jacks up a notch (if that is appropriate in your body) by choosing between plyojacks (hard) and crouch jacks (harder).  We’re working on balance moves, core control, and overall strength.  Do three rounds.

 

woodchoppers	30
1 leg squat	20
curls	10
plyojacks/crouch jacks	30
renegade rows	20
round lunges	10
overhead curtsey	30
side tricep pushups	20
Russian twist	10

 

V-Day is not my fave...

Valentine’s Day is my Least Favorite Holiday.  I have nothing against love or candy or any of that stuff, but the holiday itself annoys the heck out of me.  However, I will seize the Hallmark-ian moment to make a list of things that are good for our hearts.

 

1.     Movement.  We want to give our hearts a chance to get pumping good and fast most days of the week.  Hearts are a muscle and they get stronger with more intense use.

2.     Healthy food.  Our hearts work best in conjunction with nice clear arteries, so that whole cholesterol thing is important.  Focus on the fruits and veggies.  They are dear to our hearts.

3.     Relaxation.  Stress is not good for our hearts, so we also need to find some ways to give ourselves down time.  Unless trying to figure out how the heck to fit that in with everything else just makes it worse.  Worst case, steal an extra five minutes behind the locked bathroom door to breathe.

4.     Hugs.  These might be harder to come by than usual with the pandemic and all, but hugs, especially long ones, do good things for all our body systems, including our hearts.

Our vocabulary is a tool...

Hi, my name is Janet and I’m a metaphor addict.  The thing is, I have no intention of reforming.  Those things work like ants plundering a picnic (see?).

 

I spend a lot of my time with clients giving instructions.  Bend this, lift that, and so on.  But I don’t just care about the rude outline of the motion; I want to get all the details in the picture (it is happening again…).  Some of us know a lot about anatomy and I can say things like, “Engage your adductors” and get results, but some folks have no idea what I mean by that, so I say things like “Squeeze a beach ball between your thighs.”

 

“You are one of those drinking bird toys.”  “Pull a sheet of paper apart under your feet.”  “Spread your abs out like a rubber band.”  We are people who live by analogy and a lot of what I do is finding the one that speaks to the person in front of me at any given time.

 

I joke all the time about my invisible tool kit.  Perhaps the most useful of those invisible tools is words.

Write about it...

I write stuff down.  I admit, I am better at writing stuff down about my clients than about myself, but I’m not horrible at keeping track of my own stuff either.  It is a useful tool.

 

Why?  Well, for one thing, we don’t remember things as well as we think we do.  How often was I lifting weights five years ago?  I have no idea, but I have my workout sheets from back then, so I can look it up.  What weight should my client choose for the next exercise?  Hmmm… let me see what I wrote down about last week’s workout.

 

For another thing, it helps us see patterns.  This is how I know not to start anything new on a Thursday and that Monday is my best workout day, followed by Saturday.

 

We can be as simple or as complicated as we like.  At the simple end, we want to write down the name of the exercise, the number of reps, and the weight (or the kind of cardio and the time).  At the complicated end, we can add food journaling and brief notes about what went well or poorly and how we felt.  We can also add instructions and cues about form if we like, so we remember to align our knees over our toes or keep our upper arms stable at appropriate times.

 

Even if we don’t do it every time, it can be useful as a snapshot.  We can look at that one time we recorded, six months ago, and see that we are lifting a lot more today, or that we were really burning up the cardio back then.

 

Try it and see what happens!

Monday Workout: Compounding the solution

I love compound exercises because they get stuff done, all at once.  They boost metabolism, burn calories, and increase coordination.  Three rounds, modifying as needed for YOUR body.

 

overhead curtsey	30
squat to leg lift	20
rows	10
standing mountain climbers	30
lunge to curl	20
kickbacks	10
jacks	30
dumbbell pass	20
pretty princesses	10

It's raining, it's boring...

Sometimes the weather does not cooperate with our workout plans.  Here are some tips on how to deal with environmental angst.

 

1.     Go anyway.  Throw on a raincoat and walk or run in the rain.  You’ll dry.

2.     Run the stairs.  The ones in your hallway.  They’re handy and inside.  Go up fast and come down slow.  If you don’t have stairs, you can do step ups on a (sturdy) chair.

3.     Dance in the kitchen.  Depending on who lives with you, you may end up with a dance party or your kids will give you peace because they’re busy dying of embarrassment.

4.     Play a weighting game.  It’s like a drinking game but with weights instead.  So every time the main character of that show you’re watching says her catchphrase, you do squats.  When the sidekick does something dumb, you do curls.  Use your imagination.

How to tell...

Yesterday, I posted about aiming for a Just Right workout.  Some of us intuitively grasp how to hit that sweet spot.  We will try not to hold that against those people.  The rest of us can use a little guidance.

 

If we are hitting out goals, whether those are weight loss or general toning or improved endurance or even better moods, that’s a good indication that we’re getting it right.  If we feel pleasantly sore the day after a weight training session, that’s another good sign.  During the workout, if we get sweaty, we are probably working at least hard enough.  If we can still talk, we’re probably not working too hard.

 

However, if we don’t seem to be making progress, our workouts are probably too easy.  Hint:  if we are still lifting the same amount of weight after six months, we are not making progress.  If we never have to concentrate on what we’re doing, same deal.  On the other end of the spectrum, if we need a steady diet of Ibuprofen to get through our daily lives without screaming every time we move, our workouts are too hard.  (Perhaps a more practical way of phrasing this is:  workout soreness should not last more than two or three days at most.)  If we spend the whole workout gasping for air, we’re working too hard.  There are some people who would argue with me about this, but if a workout makes us throw up, it is too hard.  We want to avoid pain and excessive suffering—a little discomfort is all right.

 

We are the only experts on our own bodies.  That means that even if a trainer or instructor is telling us what to do, we remain the boss and can choose not to do what they say.  It also means that we have a responsibility to stay mindful of what we are doing so we can ensure that we are, in fact, doing a Just Right workout.

No bears...

So remember Goldilocks?  You know, that entitled housebreaker who terrorized a fine, law-abiding bear family?  We want to be a little bit like Goldilocks when we work out.  (No, I am not referring to my oft-repeated declaration that I only run if there is a bear involved…)  Please do not break into any bears’ houses.  However, when faced with choices, choose the one that is just right.

 

We all know when we are slacking.  We show up for our workout half asleep and we never wake up.  We pedal on autopilot or lift light weights mindlessly.  Goldilocks rejects this workout as Too Easy.

 

Sometimes, though, we get to our workout and we think we have to do literally everything at full speed and full intensity all the time.  We wonder why we are always sore and tired.  Goldilocks says this workout is Too Hard.

 

Goldilocks wants us to do a workout that is Just Right.  We want a balance between challenge and achievability.  We want rest days at appropriate intervals.  We want, in short, a sustainable level of activity because in the long run, we need to keep showing up for workouts.  That won’t happen if our workouts are Too Easy and boring or if our workouts are Too Hard and injure us (either in an immediate way or in a cumulative overuse kind of way).

 

The goal here is to live happily ever after.

Monday Workout: Balance!

This week’s workout continues our focus on balance training.  I love balance moves because they’re practical—we all need to deal with unstable circumstances from time to time—and because they help us develop core strength in motion rather than in isolation.  Three rounds!

 

suitcase swings	30
deadlifts	20
curls	10
opposite knees	30
1 leg squats	20
Arnold press	10
woodchoppers	30
rows	20
brains	10