The Amazing Stickie and Double Leg Stretch

This week, the Amazing Stickie is working on spinal flexion and abdominal strength by doing Double Leg Stretch.

She begins curled into a ball with her head and upper back off the floor.  From there, she extends her arms and legs up toward the ceiling, maintaining her upper back and head off the floor.  She circles her arms and legs around until she is back in position with arms and legs toward the ceiling and then returns to the starting position.  She thinks it is kind of like doing elementary backstroke in swimming, except that her head and shoulders are lifted.

Not Horrible

Yesterday I wrote about horrible workouts.  Today I want to remind us all that workouts don’t have to be horrible.  We just need to find something we like or something we like about what we don’t like much.

It’s easiest, of course, if we happen to like workouts.  It doesn’t take much convincing to get me to swim or ski or bike.  I’m down to play pickleball or rollerskate or ice skate.  For some of us, this means we have to spend a fair amount of time experimenting.  We may not take to the first dozen things we try, or it might take a while to find the right instructor.

 

When we don’t love something (fun fact:  I don’t actually love lifting weights), we have to find ways to make it more fun.  Doing it with a buddy can help.  Fun music goes a long way toward making the time go by.  And never discount bribery as an option (although it might be best if the bribe was not edible, for best results.).

 

We can do this.

The Worst

Several careers ago, I had a commute.  The company I worked for bought a bunch of tapes about various business topics that we could check out.  When we returned them, we were supposed to write a paper about what we learned.  I don’t remember what benefit we got from the exercise besides learning stuff.  I listened to a lot of them because I’m that person.

It's been about a zillion years since those days, so I can’t tell you who the particular time management guru was who taught me the concept of Worst First, but I am thankful to them all the same.  It has been useful far beyond that job.

 

Here’s the gist.  When we look at the list of things we need to accomplish, one way to help us get them done is to do the most awful one first.  This avoids that procrastination thing where we spend all day doing anything we can to skip that one.  Once the horrible thing is over, the rest of the day seems lighter and better, like walking downhill instead of up.

 

I mention this because for many of us, working out is that horrible thing.  If we do it first thing in the morning, it’s done and we’re free of it and the worry about it for the whole rest of the day.  Putting it off until the evening just gives us a chance to think of all the reasons why we really shouldn’t have to do it at all.

 

In a perfect world, working out would not be horrible.  But I get it that it can be.  If it is, get it over with and then get on with life!

Monday Workout: Busy!

This week we’re doing a shorter circuit.  We’ve got plenty of compound exercises to keep us busy and make us strong.  Four rounds.

 

1 min cardio
(lunge) punches	30
rows	20
Arnold press	10
burpees	10
clean and press	20
brains	10

The Amazing Stickie and Double Leg Kick

The Amazing Stickie is working on extension in her entire body today:  spine, shoulders, and hip flexors!  To do this, she is doing Double Leg Kick.

She begins lying on her belly with her face turned to one side and her hands clasped at her lower back.  From there, she bends her knees, flexes her feet, and pulses her heels toward her behind as if she were trying to kick herself in the butt.  Then she does a whole lot of things at once:  she turns her head back to a neutral position, she lifts her chest off the floor, she lifts her arms away from her back, stretching them toward her legs, and she extends her legs along the floor.  When she lowers back to the starting position, she turns her head to the other side to repeat.  She always does an even number of reps so she can do both sides the same number of times.

Captain Obvious says...

I’m putting on my Captain Obvious cape for this one:  doing the same thing over and over is boring.

Worse, it has diminishing returns.  Assuming that we’re all not as afraid of boredom as I am.

 

When we do the same workout, or the same kind of workout, every single time we hit the gym, it is, of course, easier.  There’s a reduced cognitive load.  In other words, we don’t have to think about what we’re doing.  Our bodies know what to do and they get on with it, brain optional.

 

The thing is, bodies are efficiency experts.  They don’t want to work hard unless we make them.  They’re always saving something in case we have to run away from a hippopotamus or something.

 

One way to get bodies to work harder is to give them something novel to do.  (No, not a novel to read.  That’s for AFTER the workout.)  Trying a new sport or a new piece of equipment or a new class or a new instructor wakes the brain up.  We have different challenges for our bodies to face.  Our bodies move differently in Zumba versus swimming.  At least I hope so.

 

We are going to like some kinds of moving more than others.  It is perfectly okay to have favorites.  We just need to throw ourselves a monkey wrench from time to time.

 

Go play.

The Jerk Has a Point

Accountability is a great thing.  I can make up all kinds of fabulous goals while I am sitting there by myself.  We all can.  Pretty soon we’re floating on a cloud of perfection, basking in the sun of our intentions.  And then some jerk comes and asks us when we’re going to do the work to make it real.  Sigh.

The jerk has a point, though.  We have to put in the work to make our dreams.

 

Accountability comes in many forms.  Those of us who wear Wristy Overlords (that’s a fitness tracker or Apple Watch, y’all) have an accountability tool right there at the end of our arms.

 

If W.O.s are a little too passive-aggressive for our taste, we can get a friend to help us.  Choosing the right friend, however, is key.  First of all, we need to make sure that we’re not going to get mad at our friend for doing what we ask.  It is not cool to fly off the handle at them when they ask us, nicely, if we went for our walk today.  We also need to consider if the friend we’ve chosen will ask us.  We all have some wonderful friends who love us to death, but can’t possibly remember to check in about the workout on any regular basis.  Some of our friends will not be supportive of our goals and so should not be our accountability buddy; they’ll be telling us “supportive” stuff about how we’re just fine the way we are and so on, but not pushing us to do what we’ve decided we need to do.  It is often best to choose a friend who also wants to be held accountable so we can do it for each other.

 

Finally, we can hire somebody.  I am right there, through my clients’ workouts, holding them accountable to their goals.  Sometimes the fact that they pay me is what makes them show up (I hope to keep it fun enough and effective enough that that’s not the ONLY reason, but it is all right if it is.).

 

Need my help?

Monday Workout: Swing!

This week we’re doing two kinds of swinging, one with the kettle bell and one with a pair of dumbbells.  Notice how they feel slightly different!  Three rounds.

 

kb alternate arm swing	30
kb bottom up press	20
kb halo	10
split squat pulldown	30
flies	20
pushups	10
suitcase swing	30
bench press	20
pretty princesses	10

 

The Amazing Stickie and Leg Circles

The Amazing Stickie knows that synovial joints, like the ones in our hips, get their nutrition via motion.  She also knows that a stable pelvis is beneficial for all the things she likes to do in her copious spare time.  These are two reasons why she likes to do leg circles.

She starts lying on her back with one leg long and one leg extended up toward the ceiling.  (How high the leg is raised depends on the flexibility of one’s hamstrings!).  Then, keeping both sides of her pelvis evenly weighted on the ground, she circles the lifted leg across the midline of her body and around to the starting position.  She likes to do five circles in each direction before changing legs and doing the other side.

 

Stickie finds it surprisingly difficult to avoid shifting her pelvis from side to side as she makes the circles.

Happy...

I may have mentioned once or twice or several thousand times that I am not a fan of Valentine’s Day.  However, I will seize the opportunity to talk about how we show love to ourselves.  Hint:  it does not involve our own personal two pound box of chocolate, even if it is pretty and heart-shaped.

We’ve been conditioned not to love ourselves.  People who love themselves don’t necessarily need wrinkle-remover or expensive perfume (no shade thrown on those things if we are into them).  Anxiety sells.

 

Truth is, anxiety sells even in fitness.  A large proportion of the folks working out are doing it because they are worried.  Their partner might leave if they get fat.  They can’t afford to be ill, or injured.  They might look too old to get another job.  We all have anxieties.

 

Unfortunately, anxiety is also exhausting.  At a certain point, we can’t lift weights and anxiety, too.  We wear ourselves out and we surrender.

 

When we start by loving ourselves, we feel lighter.  In the same way that we want the best for our partner or child or parent, we want that for ourselves.  We are motivated to do the things that are good for us, even hard things that are good for us.  Sure, sometimes we want a chocolate treat, but we know we should just have a piece.  We find our satisfaction in healthy behavior.

 

Let’s go give our hearts some love in the gym today.

Ouch

One of the things that tends to derail our best workout plans and schedules is soreness.  This is where I put the disclaimers:  I am not a doctor, physical therapist, or other medical professional and so I do not diagnose or treat illness or actual injury.  If you are sore for more than a couple of days after a workout, consider consulting your health care provider.

That said, I do know a thing or two about soreness and things we can do to mitigate it, assuming we are not actually injured.  (I trust that we all know the difference between normal soreness and pain that means we’ve damaged something.)

 

First, let me say that ibuprofen is our friend, unless we have some reason why taking it is not good for us.  Its job is to reduce inflammation and that is exactly what our soreness is.  It is the best of the OTC pain medications for our purposes, but the other ones will do if we need to avoid ibuprofen specifically.

 

If our soreness involves swelling, ice can help bring that down.  Some people also find ice soothing.  I am not one of them, but I’m also not here to criticize.  When the soreness does not involve swelling, heat can be soothing.

 

A combination of rest and gentle movement can also be helpful.  Many of us, when we are sore, vow that we will never move again until it stops hurting, but it turns out that it will probably stop hurting sooner if we move a little.  Certainly we don’t want to go lift a bunch more heavy weights with our poor sore biceps, but taking a little walk and swinging the arms a little will do wonders.

 

If the budget permits, I also love massage.

 

What have I forgotten?  Best tips?

Monday Workout: Weight Bearing

The last set in this workout is all about weight bearing on the arms and core control.  It is all right to modify the plank jacks or renegade rows to the regular version as needed.  Three rounds.

 

woodchoppers	30
deadlifts	20
curls	10
squat heel lift	30
kickbacks	20
truck driver	10
plank jacks	30
renegade rows	20
plank	10

 

The Amazing Stickie and Corkscrew

The Amazing Stickie has, of course, amazing articulation of her spine and amazing abdominal strength.  Those of us who do not may opt for a different exercise; those of us with osteoporosis should definitely give this one a pass.

To begin, Stickie lies on her back with her legs toward the ceiling and her arms at her side.  She peels her spine up into the air, ending up in a position where she is looking at her own shins over her face.  From there, keeping her legs together, she circles them around and then peels her spine back down to the floor.  Then she repeats, circling the other direction.

Rest then smash

I have and wear a Wristy Overlord (otherwise known as an Apple Watch).  It helps me make sure that I exercise, move, and stand up enough each day.  Somehow, though, I was not consulted about the parameters.  The W.O. does not know about rest days.

Here in the white supremacist cis-heteronormative imperialist capitalist patriarchy, we’re a little unclear about resting.  Hustle culture is a thing.  We’re supposed to be doing More all the time.

 

The thing is, our bodies don’t buy it.  We certainly need work for our bodies, but we also need rest.  We get stronger because we rest; our muscles repair themselves while we are resting, becoming a better version of themselves in the process.

 

In other words, we don’t need to be going flat out every single day.

 

Personally, I think we do better if rest is not the same as lying on the couch all day and not moving at all.  Rest can be a stroll or a little stretching.  Movement does not always have to be hard.  That said, nearly all of us could use a little more sleep.

 

Rest.  Then smash the aforementioned patriarchy.

In the middle

We spent last month learning about how to set goals.  Now it’s time to get real on doing what we’ve set out to do.  Two handy tools for staying motivated are the minimum and the maximum.

The minimum is the tool we use on days when we just don’t want to do anything.  We set the minimum on a day when we are neither unreasonably low-energy nor unreasonably optimistic so that it is more likely to be both doable and enough.  If, say, we have cardio goals, our minimum might be a 30-minute walk, or a trip around the block twice during the day.  We want the minimum to be easy.  Depending on where we are in our fitness journey, that minimum might be a five minute commitment.

 

On the other end of the spectrum, we prevent burnout by setting maximums.  Some of us who want to do All the Things just keep piling more stuff into the workouts.  We do cardio and then weights and then some yoga and then there’s this really good class and our friends want to play pickleball and maybe it would be nice to go for a swim and we just totally overdo ourselves.  Unless we are specifically training for an endurance event, we do not need to be spending two hours working out.  Those of us coming from the couch might want to set the maximum at one kind of workout, plus a little stretching.

 

We can do this in the happy middle.

Monday Workout: Reach!

This week we are working compound exercises.  Adding the reach to the side lunge will make it harder and challenge our balance.  That high pull added to the sumo squat means the whole body gets involved.  Three rounds.

 

jacks	30
bench press	20
side lunge with reach	10
sumo squat to high pull	30
flies	20
goblet pour	10
mountain climbers	30
rows	20
femur arcs	10