Things we are free from and for, a list of affirmations:
1. We are free to be healthy.
2. We are free to be happy.
3. We are free to choose our own goals.
4. We are free to set our own ideals.
5. We are free from the expectations of others.
6. We are free to work out in the way that works best for us.
7. We are free to be strong, fit, and fabulous, however we define those terms.
Today’s declaration of independence is that we are independent of stupid opinions. This is similar to what we talked about yesterday, but perhaps a little more personal.
A whole lot of people seem to think they are entitled to have opinions about what we do. We can’t control what goes on in their heads. Usually we have enough to do dealing with what’s in our own heads. But, there those folks are, spouting off about how we should or shouldn’t do whatever it is we’ve decided to do.
When those folks are motivated by our “own good,” it can be hard to blow them off. But until they live in our skin, they really don’t get a vote. Our loved ones love us. They worry when we change, even when we start changing for the better. Sometimes they do have skills or experiences we don’t have, but that doesn’t mean that what they know is right for us. We need to find our own paths. With people who are motivated by love of us, our technique is this: Thanks for your input. I’ll consider what you say.
(Some people are not even a little bit motivated by our best interest. They want to control us or keep us small or weak or unhealthy for their own reasons. When we get up the courage to be our fabulous selves, they get mad and manipulative. If thanking them for their input doesn’t do the trick, it is all right to choose not to deal with them at all. We are not put here to be abused by other people. Please do whatever is necessary to get out of unsafe circumstances. Really.)
Working out is hard enough. We don’t need to add emotional workouts on top.
While we are getting independent this month, another area we can explore is freedom from stereotypes.
Such as: women can’t lift heavy. Or men are inflexible. Or old people can’t be strong. Or people with (fill in the condition) can’t do things.
People who are alive have the ability to change. It’s kind of definitional. (When dead people change, it’s not exactly on purpose and we really don’t need to talk about that.) The cool thing about our bodies is that they change in response to what we do. If we practice getting faster, we get faster. If we practice getting stronger, we get stronger.
So maybe at the start, women who have been told for a lifetime that it’s unladylike to lift weights and get strong don’t lift really heavy weights. We lift weights that are heavy for us. As we progress, we continue to lift weights that are heavy for us until someday we are lifting weights that the Almighty They think are heavy. Usually by that point we don’t care what They think, or if we think about Them at all it is with a little burst of I-showed-YOU.
I’m not going to say that limitations aren’t real. Gravity exists. Our bodies can tolerate only so much work before they break. But for most of us, the limitations are much farther away than we think they are. If a stereotype isn’t helping, ditch it!
Go play.
One of our focuses (foci?) this week is weight bearing on the arms. Not only is this good for our arm strength, but also for our cores. Three rounds.
jacks | 30 |
(lunge to) curl | 20 |
pushups | 10 |
| |
squat raise | 30 |
kickbacks | 20 |
quadruped lateral raise | 10 |
| |
db circle | 30 |
row | 20 |
lateral plank walk | |
Some ideals we can declare independence from:
1. Cultural body image
2. Ableist ideas of what we should do
3. Fanatical adherence to rubrics about exercise and nutrition
4. “Healthy” stuff that makes us feel bad
Another thing we can declare independence from is ideals. Don’t get me wrong: I am an idealist. But we live in the real world, which is often less than ideal.
In our workouts, there are lots of folks out there who will tell us what the ideal routine for us is. They’ll give us helpful information about heart rates, duration, volume of training, speed, tempo, and all kinds of other stuff. It’s not that that stuff isn’t useful; it just might not work for us in our particular circumstance.
In an ideal world, we’d all get 150 minutes of moderate cardio exercise every week. Expecting to meet that standard when we haven’t been off the couch in years is not realistic or workable. Some of us are coming back from injuries, or have difficulty finding a safe place to work out.
The ideal workout, from a practical perspective, is the one we do. It’s the one that empowers us to do the other stuff we want to do, like live a long time or play sharks and minnows with the grandkids in the pool. Sure, we can aim for the ideals, but we shouldn’t be upset when our ideal is not somebody else’s.
Go play.
One of the biggest things we can declare independence from in our workout life is other people’s goals. This can be a challenge.
What do I mean?
Let’s say, for example, that I have just hopped on a bike for the first time in years. I have a great time. And, as I start telling people about it, they start telling me about century rides, or hill rides, or single track mountain bike rides. They suggest different shoes or fancy gear or maybe even a brand new bike. All of that is intended to be helpful, but mostly it’s discouraging. I’m at the very beginning. I want to pedal and have fun and I don’t want to overthink things. I need to declare my independence from their ideas about what I need to do and do what I want.
Or, another example. Imagine I have never been to the gym before. I think I might like to try some stuff there and I tag along with a friend, who happens to be a true gym rat. He shows me his heavy lifting routine, which takes approximately two hours and involves really big dumbbells and barbells. I go home and think: I am never going back there again. It’s too hard and scary. Instead, I can declare independence from my friend, however well-meaning he is, and I can start with a short workout that is appropriate for my own body.
One more. Imagine I have a routine in which I go to the gym for a Zumba class every week. I have friends there. It’s fun. I feel energetic and good at the end. But imagine I have a less-helpful friend/partner/parent who thinks I’m not doing enough because I’m not losing weight. I can declare independence from that person and do what makes me feel powerful and good in my skin.
We are all unique snowflakes. We all have things we like and dislike. The best workout is the one we will actually do.
Go play.
We’re doing some lateral motions this week and some practical stuff. So, basically, it’s like life, which often goes sideways and requires us to carry stuff. Three rounds.
skater jump | 30 |
bench press | 20 |
squat pop up | 10 |
| |
farmer carry | 30 |
underhand bent over row | 20 |
db hip thrust | 10 |
| |
leg kicks | 30 |
flies | 20 |
side banana | |
While working on fitness tends to enable our pursuit of happiness, sometimes the fitness work itself can be happy. Here are some happy workouts:
1. Dance
2. Yoga
3. Pickleball
4. Swimming
5. Tag with the kids
6. That sport you love
7. That hike that inspires you
8. That thing you do with friends and you end up laughing until your abs hurt
9. Add your own
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” Declaration of Independence
The Declaration of Independence is one of the founding documents of our country. Despite its problems (“all men” meant everybody, until people of color and women wanted to be equal, just for example), the declaration inspires us with its list of rights: life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. When it comes time to consider our fitness, it is a pretty good place to start getting inspired.
Take life. Of course, the very basics of life are about keeping breathing. Fitness work helps us do that, for sure. But it also improves the quality of the life we have. When we get stronger and improve our cardio fitness, when we work on our balance and flexibility, we open up so much more of life. We’re not so limited in the activities we can engage in. We feel better.
Liberty? We all have tons of choices, every single day. When we work out, we increase the number of viable choices we have. Let me explain. I could wake up and decide to run away to join the circus. My odds of getting hired by the circus for anything beyond cleaning up after the animals (although I hope there aren’t any more circuses with animals) improve if I have actual skills that the circus can use. If I work out hard and build up my upper body strength, I might have a shot at succeeding at trapeze. If I focus on balance, I might be able to walk the tightrope. The choices we make today enable the choices we want to make in the future.
Then there is the pursuit of happiness. Any time we’re dealing with pursuit, we want both speed and endurance. Fine. I know it’s not a literal pursuit. But again, happiness is much easier to find when we feel good. Feeling good is one of my favorite outcomes of working out.
So: get independent and work out!
On this last day of the month, I am going to spend a minute or so talking about mental and emotional wellbeing. This is maybe the hardest piece of the wellness puzzle.
All the other things I’ve talked about this month feed into our mental and emotional wellbeing. They give us the healthy body in which to keep our healthy mind. For many of us, using the tools for movement, recovery, sleep, and nutrition will give us enough support that we have no trouble with our mental and emotional wellbeing.
Many of us may also need a few more tools.
This part is important: I am not a doctor or a therapist or a psychologist. If you are experiencing serious depression or other mental illness, PLEASE get professional health. You are 100% worth it and you deserve a healthy and happy life.
If our struggle feels like something we can manage ourselves, I have two more tools to suggest. The first one is stress reduction. Sadly, stress reduction in this context does not mean that I wave a wand and all the bad stressors in our lives go away. If only. It can mean anything from improving our time management to acquiring a meditation practice for three minutes a day. What reduces stress for some folks doesn’t for others, so, again, experimentation is in order. Find a couple things that work and keep a list for those times when the stress goes to eleven.
The other tool? Fun. Sometimes wellness seems like just another list of tasks in an already task-overloaded life. We have to have some fun, whether that’s laughing our butts off at a silly movie or playing a game with the kids or reading quietly by ourselves for a while. We all know the things we love to do and don’t do often enough. Do those things.
Be well.
Last year I forgot our mid-year Christmas observation. Not this time! The 12 days of Christmas in June is important!
How it works, for those of us who don’t know or remember: we do one push press. Day 1 is over! Yay! On Day 2, we do two goblet squats and one push press. And so on, until we have completed all 12 days. Yes, I know this means we will have done 42 burpees. You’re welcome.
1 push press |
2 goblet squats |
3 Overhead press |
4 1 leg squats each leg |
5 deadlifts |
6 burpees |
7 pushups |
8 renegade rows |
9 mountain climbers |
10 jump lunges |
11 kb swings |
12 plyojacks |
A rainbow to eat!
1. Red bell pepper.
2. Oranges.
3. Yellow squash.
4. Green beans (or broccoli, or spinach, or asparagus, or any of the other million green veggies)
5. Blueberries.
6. Eggplant.
Anybody who knows me will not be surprised that my favorite technique for good nutrition is planning ahead, since it’s my favorite technique for almost everything. There are some particularly good reasons to use planning for nutrition, however.
One is that hungry people make less good decisions. If I plan my meals and have healthy choices on hand, I’m a lot less likely to choose ice cream for dinner. (It’s a sad reality that once we become grown-ups and can have whatever we want for dinner, we also know that ice cream is not the best choice. Even when we are stressed out.)
Another is that we can incorporate more variety. When we buy a bunch of different vegetables with an actual plan for using them, it’s a lot easier to “eat the rainbow.” We can experiment, maybe one night a week, with a new recipe or even a new cuisine. (You know that experimenting is one of my other favorite techniques!)
Meal planning is not rocket science. It’s definitely a skill, and skills can be acquired. I’ve been doing it for a long time, so it’s easy and obvious to me, but when I started out, I sometimes planned too much food and sometimes too little. Nobody died, I learned, and my family eats better than if I just opened the fridge every day and had to figure out what to feed them in the moment.
Try it and see how it works for you!
There is a lot of nutritional advice out there, much of it conflicting. Worse, the easiest foods to get in our culture are the ones that are not particularly good for us. This combination, plus the overall busy-ness of our lives, can lead to poor eating habits. It’s entirely understandable that we don’t eat the best foods for us. Fast food companies have huge advertising budgets, fad diets make their creators rich, and trusted sources of information are scarce on the ground.
So what should we eat?
There are some basics to consider. We need enough calories in our food to power our activities. Those calories, ideally, should come from lean sources of protein, whole grains, vegetables, good-for-us fats, fruits, nuts, and seeds. Those of us who are older, who work out a lot, or are still growing may need more protein than we think.
If we are eating a varied diet, our vitamin and mineral needs may take care of themselves. A multivitamin can be insurance against any lacks, but I’m not going to recommend a whole suite of supplements (they have a big industry behind them, too.).
The general principle is that food is most nutritious for us when it is closest to how it started. An apple, with its peel, is better for us than a glass of apple juice, no matter how organic and free range. (Yes, I know that apples do not fall far from the tree and thus do not range at all, but it makes me laugh to think of them doing so willy-nilly.)
It is also important that our food gives us joy. There are certainly times when it is absolutely good for us to eat a food that is not the most nutritional choice—celebratory pizza with the kids after a great report card springs to mind, or eating Grandma’s special pie on a visit with her. The key is to make those choices consciously and occasionally.
More tomorrow!
For the round lunges this week, you can choose to do front/side/back or the newer, fancier version: cross front, front, diagonal front, side, diagonal back, back, curtsy. Three rounds.
kb swings | 30 |
kb twists | 20 |
kb 8x | 10 |
| |
step ups | 30 |
gorilla row | 20 |
round lunges | 10 |
| |
opposite knees | 30 |
pushups | 20 |
plank/side plank | 10 |
Things that will help us sleep well:
1. Turn off the blue light. That means the tv and all the devices. At least a half hour before bed time.
2. Keep it dark. Either keep the room dark or get a sleep mask. (I love mine!)
3. Keep it cool. Lower temperatures help us get and stay asleep.
4. Relax. Some gentle breathing or meditation can help.
5. Get exercise. Some people get amped up after exercise, so if this is you, schedule your workout earlier in the day.
6. Watch the caffeine and alcohol. Moderation or abstention can help.
