Miscellaneous: Anxiety

Let’s talk about anxiety.  OK, maybe not ALL anxiety.  Just the exercise kind.

Anxiety and fear can make our fitness world seem very small, especially as we get older.  We worry that we’re going to get injured or fall.  We’re sure that we’re going to have to deal with more limitations and it’s just too much.  We’re resigned to couch life.

 

But that’s not a good plan, really.

 

I have a better one. 

 

Let’s keep working, keep moving, in a pain-free way.  As we develop osteoarthritis (yep, all of us do eventually), maybe our knees don’t bend the way they used to, but they still bend.  And if we make sure to bend them day in and day out, we’ll maintain the range of motion we have for longer.

 

When our workouts don’t involve pain, we’re a lot more likely to show up for them.  (Please note:  pain is not the same as discomfort.  Workouts, if they are effective, might involve some discomfort, but life is painful enough without adding more at the gym.)  When we show up regularly for our workouts, things get easier.  We get stronger.  We improve our balance and our flexibility.  We keep or improve our range of motion.

 

We might even relax a little with the anxiety.  We begin to have confidence that working out isn’t scary.

 

Go gently.  But do go.

Monday Workout: Shake Up

As you know, at the end of the month we try to shake things up a bit.  This format will look fairly familiar, in that the exercises come in threes, but we’re doing it differently.  We’ll only do 10 reps of each exercise, so we can choose heavier weights, and we will repeat each group three times before moving on to the next one.  Some of us will love this format and some of us will look forward to next week instead.

 

3 sets of 10 each
squat	lunges
overhead press	bent over row
bridge with leg lift	crunches
deadlift
dips
pushups
bird dog
Russian twist
plank

Thursday List: 4

Warming up before workouts becomes increasingly important as we get older.  Here are some things you might want to do in yours:

 

1.     cardio

2.     dynamic stretching

3.     plyometrics (jumping)

4.     balance work

Miscellaneous: Connections

In the book of Ezekiel, the prophet sees a valley full of dried bones.  (This is far from the weirdest thing he sees.  His visions could conceivably involve some serious drugs.)  God causes the bones to link up with each other and rebuild bodies.  From this chapter, we get the song “Them Bones” in which the knee bone connects to the thigh bone and so on.

The song, as anatomically incorrect as it can be, does have a point.

 

The parts of our bodies connect.  What happens in one part affects neighboring parts and ultimately the whole system.  This is why, for example, a person with a sprained ankle begins to feel pain in the opposite hip or side or even shoulder.  Each connected part compensates for the hurt bit and feels the strain of it.

 

We can frame this in a much more positive direction, though.  When we work on aligning any part of our body better, we improve the whole.  Working, say, on ankle mobility can make our knees and hips work better.  Getting a little more movement in our spines can help our shoulders.

 

The part affects the whole.  So anything we do is likely to be a Good Thing.

Miscellaneous: Closed and Open Chain

There are lots of ways to conceptualize how we move.  One of those ways involves describing whether a motion is open chain or closed chain.  (There’s also pseudo-closed chain, but I’ll leave that one out for now.)

A closed chain movement means that the body’s path through the motion is restricted in some way, say with a pushup.  The arms are against the ground and are not able to move in that direction. 

 

A bench press is the same motion, but with the arms free to move in space rather than stabilized against the ground.  It is an open chain activity.

 

As a rule, open chain movements provide more challenge for the body because we have to use our stabilizing systems to control things rather than some other barrier.  (All weights being equal, that is.)

 

Explore the exercises in your next workout:  which ones are open?  Which ones are closed?  Can you think of an exercise that works the same muscle groups with the other chain option?

 

Go play.

Monday Workout: Lots of Balance

We’re working balance here in a variety of ways.  The jacks activate our lateral body, which is important for our righting response (that thing where we catch ourselves as we start to fall).  We’re strengthening all the way around our core musculature with deadlifts, dumbbell circles, renegade rows, and brains.  We’re practicing our single leg squats.  And, of course, we’re just getting plain stronger.  Three rounds.

 

jacks	30
deadlifts	20
1 leg squats	10
db circle	30
skullcrushers	20
renegade row	10
squat raise	30
overhead press	20
brains	10

 

Thursday List: 10

A few exercises that can be done one side at a time:

 

1.     single leg deadlift

2.     single leg squat

3.     single leg calf raise

4.     lunges

5.     bench press

6.     curl

7.     overhead press

8.     row

9.     fly

10.  kickback

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

 

Thursday List: 6

I try to avoid buying needless gadgets.  That said, there are some tools that can be really useful for building balance.

 

1.     yoga block

2.     strap

3.     roller

4.     BOSU

5.     turntable

6.     balance board

Back to Basics: Putting it Together 2

There are lots of ways to put together a week’s worth of workouts that incorporate all the things we need to do.  This is good, because we all have different lives, bodies, and preferences.

Those of us who particularly love one kind of workout will have to make more of an effort to squeeze in the other stuff.  For example, it is often the case that folks who love lifting find it challenging to get around to doing flexibility work.

 

I have two suggestions for tactics.  The first one is to find ways to make it fun.  Maybe some of us really detest weight lifting.  But doing it while catching up with a friend?  That could be kind of awesome.  If the idea of treadmill time reminds us that it was first used as a punishment, maybe we’d do better getting our cardio from playing basketball or swimming or dancing.  Cue Mary Poppins singing “A Spoon Full of Sugar.”

 

The other suggestion is to find some accountability and/or community.  Classes and teams are popular for this reason.  People make friends.  In the case of classes, there’s also reduced cognitive load because we show up and someone tells us what to do.

 

Getting in our workouts can stimulate our creativity as we look for ways to get everything done and have a good time.

 

Go play.

Back to Basics: Putting it Together 1

We’ve spent the month going over the basics of the various kinds of exercises that are beneficial for our bodies.  The thing is, we need to put the kinds together for maximum benefit.

If that sounds overwhelming, stop for a second and breathe.  Any exercise is better than no exercise and starting with what is manageable is always a good idea.  (Also:  it is my job to put things like this together, so if you need help, you could hire me.)

 

A person who has been exercising for a while might have a weekly workout schedule that looks something like this:

 

Monday:  cardio and stretching

Tuesday:  cardio warm-up, weights and stretching

Wednesday:  cardio and stretching

Thursday:  cardio warm-up, weights and stretching

Friday:  cardio and stretching

Saturday:  yoga or Pilates

Sunday:  rest

 

Notice that resting is right in there, looking important, because it is.  We don’t want to overdo things!

 

Go play.

Monday Workout: I did not

Month end means a short circuit.  My clients have figured out that doing a short circuit four times is not easier than doing a longer circuit three times.  Did I say it would be?  I did not.  The point in doing a different shape of workout is that it challenges our bodies in different ways.  Four rounds.

 

1 min cardio
tap backs	30
bench press	20
squat pop up	10
woodchoppers	30
renegade rows	20
scissors	10