Natural Habitat

Lately, the illusion that I am a relatively adaptable and easy-going human has been shattered.  It was the weather that did it.  I found out that being adaptable and easy-going is a lot easier when I’m not boiling to death.  My little epiphany is useful when we think about working out.

 

It is worth taking the time to figure out what our natural workout habitat is.  Doing the workout should be the hardest part of the experience, not coping with irritating music we don’t like or too much/not enough ventilation or itchy tags in the back of our shirts.  For some of us, this means that we need to go outside and play.  Others of us want our air conditioning.  Maybe we need noise-cancelling headphones or especially cushy socks.  It is all right to work out with Bitch Face to keep people from talking to us if that is what we need; it is also all right to chat like crazy to the human on the next treadmill (assuming that person also wants to chat and that you both keep moving fast enough to count as a workout!).  This might take a fair amount of experimentation, but it really helps.

 

Go play.

Not Just a Buzz Word

I hate it when business fads wreck perfectly good words.  Synergy is a great word and a useful fitness concept, but I hesitate to write about it because I don’t want anybody spilling their coffee while they jump up and yell, “Bingo!”  (Although jumping up and down is a good way to raise heart rate…)  In business, the concept has come to mean “squeezing more out of less.”  This is not at all what I mean.

 

Every different kind of fitness activity helps every other kind, so we end up getting more out of doing two things than out of doing one for the same amount of time (two or more things working together to produce more than expected is definitional to synergy).  Let me explain how.

 

When we lift weights, we primarily use big muscles for big movements.  Pilates, on the other hand, tends to focus in on doing small movements correctly and recruits a lot more core muscles and little muscles that make fine adjustments to our motion.  The weight training makes us strong and Pilates makes us precise.  Combined, we get a lot better form in our weight training from the precision we gain in Pilates, and we find a lot more of the Pilates repertoire available to us as we get stronger.  Cardio and weight training combined have their own synergy:  the endurance of cardio makes weight training go better and the strength from weight training makes us faster in our cardio workouts.

 

Go play, in several ways!

Monday Workout: Compound

I love compound exercises.  A lot.  So this week we’re making our simple squats a bit more difficult just by raising our arms, which adds another joint to the mix and challenges our form.  Three rounds.

 

kb swings	30
kb twists	20
kb 8s or over yets	10
mountain climbers	30
overhead squat	20
lateral raise	10
step ups	30
rows	20
brains	10

 

Out loud is all right

We all talk to ourselves, although some of us are more subtle about it than others.  How we talk to ourselves when we work out matters.  Here are some things to consider:

 

1.     Give yourself positive feedback.  This means noticing what is going right, even if it is very small.  “I showed up today!  Good job!”  “Lifting that weight one time is more than I did yesterday!  Hooray!”

2.     Focus on process.  “I went to the gym three times this week.”  “I spent 30 minutes on the elliptical trainer.”

3.     Process your feelings.  It is all right if you don’t like working out.  One of the things I said about a gazillion times to my kids (and still do, even though they are adults now) is “You don’t have to like it, but you do have to do it.”  Acknowledging that some parts of what you are doing to get what you want are unpleasant is healthy and useful.

4.     No insults and no apologies.  You are not lazy or stupid.  You may not be where you want to be in terms of your fitness or your body shape or whatever, but you are working on it, so give yourself some respect.  You are also doing your best, so do not apologize for not being perfect (I had to learn this one the hard way; my trainer made me do pushups every time I apologized during a workout.  I got a lot better at pushups while I learned…)

5.     Encourage yourself.  This can be a hard one.  Sometimes it helps to imagine that you are encouraging someone else, maybe a small child or a best buddy.

Fantasy and reality

It is the nature of my work that I read a fair amount about workout programs and systems and how to achieve goals.  They’re all very neat and pretty.  I have a recurring batch of fantasies about how someday I will find or make the perfect system, enabled by the perfect planner and suddenly the planets will align, my skin will be flawless, peace will break out throughout the earth, and I’ll never sink into the murk of despair again.  I mentioned that this is a fantasy, right?

 

Here in Reality Land, it’s not quite so neat and pretty.  We don’t all progress through the stages of a workout program at the same rate.  Sometimes we hit a plateau and we have to get creative to climb off it.  Sometimes we backslide.  And, on special occasions, we progress faster than we expect.  The nice clean workout sheets get marked up and corrected and scribbled on as we adjust to what is actually happening.

 

We do have the option of avoiding adjusting, but it’s not a good one.  When we force our progress to adhere to an abstract idea of what it should be, we are asking for boredom if we happen to move faster or injury if we need a little more time.  The key, as always, is to pay attention.

 

This, of course, is why a trainer can be handy.  It’s my job to pay attention to how things are going, make the adjustments, and help my clients get to their goals.  I’m here to customize the workouts for each individual and to shift in the moment if life has made unexpected left turns.  I am not necessary, but I am useful.

Good habit to adapt...

Habits are a good news/bad news kind of thing.  Obviously, we want to have good habits like eating food that is good for us and moving our bodies enough to feel healthy.  It is awfully nice to get into the groove of a habit and get workouts in automatically.  What’s not to like?

 

Well, sometimes when we have a strong habit, we get thrown when life doesn’t go as planned.  We are so used to doing things the way we always do that when family comes to visit or we go on vacation or we don’t get up at the usual time we don’t know how to adapt.  It’s like we only know one way to do things and we’ve broken ourselves by getting off the track.

 

So then we have to figure out how to get stuff done anyway.  In the moment, mostly we need to take a deep breath, remember that we are smart and flexible humans, and get on with it.  In the longer term, we need to practice.  That means that every once in a while we need to shake up the routine on purpose to remind ourselves that there is more than one way to achieve our goals or check off those tasks.  Maybe once a week or so we try an evening workout if we are normally morning people, or vice versa.  Maybe we switch up the order of our workouts.  Change is inevitable, so learning adaptability is a useful tool to pair with our habit tool.

 

Go play.

Monday Workout: Gravity

This week we are changing our relationship to gravity.  Instead of doing plain old rows, we’re doing renegade rows.  Instead of our usual kickbacks, we’re doing skullcrushers.  Not surprisingly, we challenge ourselves in different ways when we switch up our body orientation.  It’s all good.  Three rounds.

 

squat to leg lift	30
deadlifts	20
renegade rows	10
1 arm clean and press	30
lunge to curl	20
pushups	10
woodchoppers	30
skullcrushers	20
pretty princesses	10

A Useful List of Unuseful Things

Usually, I focus on the positive, but every once in a while it’s good to remember what NOT to do.  Here are five things to skip:

 

1.     Comparisons.  Our workouts are our own.  There are workouts out there that are too hard for us and others that are too easy.  We need to concentrate on the one we are doing.  What that woman over there is doing is not relevant.  That guy doing whatever it is he is doing does not matter to our workout unless he literally crashes into us.

2.     Time travel.  This is sort of a subset of comparisons.  We can only do today’s workout.  Maybe we did much harder workouts when we were twenty, but that does not change what we are doing today.  In six months, we may be doing far more amazing things, but, again, not relevant today.

3.     Self-Trash Talk.  I’m all in favor of trash-talking the weights—they have no feelings to speak of—but we need to make a point of talking nicely to ourselves about how we showed up and are working.  No bitching about how slow/fat/weak/whatever we are because it does not help.

4.     Excuses.  We’re creative.  I get it.  We can come up with really good reasons to skip workouts all day long.  The thing is, we don’t get fit by talking about workouts; we get fit by working out.  This is not to say that we should never skip workouts—life happens—but that we should be very careful to make good choices most of the time.

5.     Burnout.  I know I just said we need to skip the excuses.  Scheduling rest days is not the same as flaking off.  We need to plan rest just the same way we plan workouts.

 

Now go play.

Maximums

One way to divide humans is between minimalists and maximalists, especially when it comes to fitness.  Some of us want to know how to scrape by with the least possible exercise; I’ve written plenty about how to do this, so I’m not going to go over it right now.

 

On the other end, some of us want to work out All The Time.   I get it.  I like working out, too.  But too much is not a good thing.  When we over-train, our bodies start to break down.  We get repetitive stress injuries.  We get other kinds of injuries just from being flat-out tired.  And we stop making progress.

 

Bodies get stronger and leaner and faster by cycling through challenge and rest.  We work our muscles, which makes them sore, and then they rebuild themselves stronger while we rest.  No rest means no rebuilding.

 

Our culture firmly believes that more is better and most is best.  Fight the power and get stronger by resting from time to time.  Really.

Jump!!!

Back when we were kids, jumping came naturally.  Our bodies were young, elastic, and bouncy!  Nowadays, most of us have to be more careful when we jump so we don’t get hurt.

 

Good jumping starts with our feet.  As we lift off the ground, we want to lift our heels first and toes last, articulating through our feet.  On the way down, we want to reverse that process, letting the balls of our feet land first and rolling down to our heels.  This helps our bodies absorb the shock of reconnecting with the ground.

 

Not surprisingly, knees also have a lot to do with good jumping.  We bend them to get the energy to launch ourselves in the first place, but we have to remember to bend them again as we land.  We want to come down more like rag dolls, who land softly in a lump and less like china dolls, who hit stiffly and shatter.

 

The final piece of good jumping is core control.  Core control is what keeps us from crashing inelegantly.

 

Jumping is a great way to add oomph to our workouts (jump squats!  jump lunges!  plyojacks!) and it can be fun as long as we take a moment to make it safe.  However, some of us find jumping inappropriate for our bodies—this can be because we have large breasts that don’t get adequate support or because we have gimpy knees or because our ankles dislike us (this is not an exhaustive list, of course!).  Done safely, it’s great, but it is totally all right to skip it if it doesn’t work for us.

 

Happy bouncing! 

Monday Workout: Plyo!

One way to add intensity to a workout is to add jumping.  This week, we’re doing jump squats and plyojacks to get our hearts really going.  If jumping is not appropriate in your body, do regular squats and modified jacks instead—safety is the most important thing!  Three rounds.

 

jump squats	30
flies	20
1 leg deadlifts	10
kb swings	30
kb twists	20
kb 8s	10
plyo/regular/mod jacks	30
curls	20
Russian twist	10

Drink up

Where I live, it is, in my opinion, way too hot right now.  I am drinking water, water, and more water.  This can be hard for people to manage, so here are some things that might help:

 

1.     Choose fizzy.  As a former soda drinker, this was key to my success.  Fizzy water seems slightly more festive than plain old flat water.  Obviously, if you don’t like fizzy water, choose flat.

2.     Get the right temperature.  For me, this means lots of ice, but some people find more success drinking water that is closer to room temperature.

3.     Pretend it’s a spa thing.  Throw a lemon slice or some mint leaves or a bit of cucumber in there.  Melon can also be nice.  It’s not just water:  it’s a mini vacation.

4.     Get the right container.  Some of us like straws; some of us like sippy cups; some of us are fancy and use glass; some swear by our water bottles.  Finding the right one makes a surprising amount of difference.  (Mine is insulated and has a lid that I use if I’m taking it somewhere, but leave off if I’m just hanging at home.  The cup is also red.)

5.     Set a goal.  This works for people who like to compete or folks who like to check boxes.  Make a chart and stick it on the fridge; give stickers.  Use an app to track it.

6.     Check in.  A lot of us go around slightly dehydrated.  When we succeed at drinking water, it’s useful to notice that we feel better, less crabby, sharper.

Eyerolls don't burn many calories, though

Bodies like to move.  I know some folks are rolling their eyes right now because they firmly believe that they could lie on the couch until they became one with the upholstery, but hey, rolling eyes is movement, so they just proved my point.

 

Silliness aside (who am I kidding?  I can’t leave the silliness out!), all of our bodies do, in fact, like to move.  The question is how much.  When we go too long without moving, we feel stiff and sore.  Our joints refuse to open or close as much as they used to.  We forget how to get enough air into our lungs to support dancing or running or even walking.

 

The good news is that bodies also remember.  When we give our legs a stretch or our neck a little roll, our bodies remember how to do it and reward us by making us feel better.  This is true even for those of us who have arthritis; studies recommend taking even arthritic joints through their range of motion each day so that there is no further loss and maybe even a bit of gain.  Starting slow with a few stretches or a short walk helps.

 

Go play.

Real reality

I love the gym.  It’s one of my happy places.  And, at the same time, I know that sometimes it’s really important to get out into the world because gym reality does not always match real reality.

 

What am I talking about?  Glad you asked.  Let’s say we spend a bunch of time using the weight machines at the gym and we’re feeling pretty good because we have been able to add plates.  Great, right?  But then we need to go help a good friend move some furniture and we realize a few things very quickly.  One:  objects outside the gym are not necessarily designed to be grasped easily.  Two:  moving heavy objects through crowded or narrow space bears only a slight resemblance to sliding weights along the channels of a machine.  Three:  balance is way more important than we thought.  Four:  we don’t like our friend as much as we used to and we’re too old to do this kind of work for beer and pizza.  This may not be an exhaustive list, but it’s a start.

 

Similarly, we may love the treadmill.  We may move the speed and incline up.  And then we go for a hike outside where it might be a lot hotter or colder than we’re used to and the hill doesn’t end at the push of a button.  We may hike at altitude and realize that there’s not the same amount of oxygen we’re used to having.  Also, the path may not be so smooth.

 

Gyms are not the most varied environments.  We learn a lot when we take what we learn in the gym and apply it in the proprioceptively-enriched environment of the world, doing our everyday tasks, and working with the constant variety that we find.

 

Go play.

Monday Workout: Phase

Like everyone else, I go through phases.  This means that sometimes I forget about a particular exercise for a while, but eventually I remember.  This is why there are bench dips in this week’s workout!  Three rounds.

 

step ups	30
squats	20
bench dips	10
woodchoppers	30
bench press	20
lateral raise	10
overhead curtsy	30
deadlift	20
brains	10

Friday Reading Report: The Yoga Tradition

In the West, yoga tends to be regarded as an exercise thing, but the tradition is much richer and deeper than that.  Anyone who would like an exhaustive (and exhausting) overview of that panoply might want to check out Georg Feuerstein’s book The Yoga Tradition:  Its History, Literature, Philosophy, and Practice.

 

This is not the book to turn to if you want to know how to do various asanas or if you want a concise description of the various yoga schools.  It’s not even the right book if you want a fluid translation of Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras with commentary.  My Sanskrit is nonexistent, but having read more than one translation of the sutras, I can say confidently that Feuerstein did not concentrate on style or flow in that particular translation.  I’m unfamiliar with many/most of the other texts he translates, but my sense is that he is more of a literalist than a stylist, which may be fine for scholars, but tends to wear out and confuse the regular reader.

 

I think I am glad I read it, but I’m not entirely sure.  There is some truly weird stuff in the annals of yoga.  I don’t know how or if this book will influence my own practice, but I do know more than when I started, so that’s something. 

Wake up!

Sometimes we all get bored with our workouts.  Here are five ways to up the challenge and wake ourselves up.

 

1.     Make it unstable.  This can be about using tools like stability balls, a BOSU, a wobble-board, or a foam roller, or it can be as simple as trying the exercise on one leg or with one arm at at time.

2.     Change the speed of the lift.  Sometimes things are harder when we do them faster.  Sometimes we learn a lot by slowing things way down.  Try doing the “hard” part quickly and then lower the weights back down very slowly.

3.     Add cardio intervals.  This can be as simple as a minute of jacks between lifts or as complicated as creating a whole circuit routine.  The idea is to get breathless and then do the lift to increase the challenge.

4.     Go backwards.  If we always do the same exercises in the same order, our bodies know what to expect.  That’s a recipe for stagnation.  Mix things up by doing the same routine but in reverse.

5.     Change location.  If we normally work out outside, we can take it indoors, or vice versa.  A change of scene means fresh input for our brains and bodies, which is good for both.

 

Go play!

The goal is...

It has been a while since I’ve reviewed one way to divide up kinds of goals, so here I am to remind everybody.  And, because I’m opinionated, I’ll even say which kind I like better.

 

One kind of goal is a results goal.  It focuses on the end state.  This is a very common kind of goal in fitness:  I want to wear a size K, or weigh B pounds, or run Z miles in J minutes.  Fancy versions of this kind of goal add deadlines:  I want to lose C pounds by my wedding date, or my reunion date, or my birthday.  There is nothing wrong with results goals, as long as they take reality into account—nobody is going to lose 100 pounds by next week, at least not in a survivable way.  This kind of goal helps us think big and see the end of the rainbow.  What these goals lack is a how.

 

Which is where process goals come in.  I love process goals because they focus on what we can do right now to get where we want to go.  Process goals are things like:  I am going to ride my spin bike for 30 minutes on weekdays before work, or I am going to do two weight lifting sessions every week, or I am going to limit my desserts to one a week.  They are all about actions we can take to move ourselves in the right direction.  They also work really well when we don’t actually know what is realistic for us.  I may not know how long it is going to take me to lose L pounds, but I do know that if I choose smaller portions every day, I’m taking steps to lose them.

 

The other thing I want to say about goals is that we are allowed to change them, no matter what kind we set.  Maybe we initially thought we wanted to lose some number of pounds and we discovered that actually we felt and looked great before we hit that number, or we hit it and found that we wanted to go a little farther.  Maybe we thought we wanted to do a marathon, but realized that our bodies were best suited to a half.  No one is checking.  We can change our minds as we get new information or even just because we want to.

 

Go play.

Work from love

Welcome to summer, or at least to June.  A lot of us confront our body anxieties as summer sets in.  I will lay a lot of the blame for this on the capitalist imperialist cis-hetero-normative white supremacist patriarchy and its advertising machine—anxious people buy stuff.  But I have good news.

 

First of all, smashing the aforementioned many-adjectived patriarchy is good exercise.  We burn a lot of calories that way and build our muscles.  (Please do not smash any actual humans.  This is not good.  Use the energy to lift the weights and power the cardio.)

 

Once we’ve calmed down a little due to the exercise, we may be able to remember that we are more than just pretty faces/bodies.  We are valuable no matter what we look like.  When we are in tune with our actual worth, we find much better ways to motivate ourselves to do things that are good for our bodies and may incidentally make our outsides as lovely as our insides.  Working from love is always better than working from fear—the workout becomes a gift we give ourselves rather than some obscure form of punishment for our imagined sins.

 

All of us are allowed to take the bodies we have right now to the beach to enjoy sun and water and fresh air; anybody who says different is not our friend.