Warning!

It is entirely possible that workouts should come with a warning label.  Not because workouts will make us sore or tired, although they most likely will if we are doing them right.  Workouts can be addictive.  They can be a gateway drug to a whole new kind of living.

 

We start with maybe a little walk around the block.  That leads to longer walks, or maybe even some running.  We get better shoes.  Our muscles get stiff, so suddenly we start stretching.  We realize that we like our runs better when we have a good breakfast first.  One day we wake up and there we are:  eating our veggies, drinking water, pumping iron, and high on cardio.

 

The good news?  Most of us can get addicted to working out with no real ill effects—I mean, most of us feel worse from taco-and-margarita night than from the average workout.

 

Go play.

Captain Obvious, At It Again

We get better at what we practice.  Thanks, Captain Obvious!  I had no idea! 

Yeah, I know.  We all know that, but sometimes we forget that it applies to fitness.

 

This means that if we always spend half an hour on the cardio machines, we will get good at doing half an hour of cardio, but we are not getting better at doing anything longer.  And, unless we are actively choosing to vary the speed and incline and resistance levels on the machines, we are not getting better at adapting to varied environments.

 

When we stick to our old favorite weight training routines, we get stronger at those specific exercises.  Depending on what those favorites are, we may be building endurance or strength or muscle size or power, but if we don’t switch things up, we’re not building the other ones.

 

The implications are twofold.  First, we need to know what we want to get out of working out and then choose exercises that help us practice for those outcomes.  Marathoners need different workouts than sprinters and power lifters are going to choose different exercises than folks just figuring out the difference between dumbbells and barbells.

 

Second, variety is good for us.  Even when we choose a workout in line with our goals, we will need to mix things up so we can practice adapting to different circumstances.  Adaptability is a basic skill that underlies all our movement in the world, fitness and regular.

 

I’m here to help anyone who needs to sort out the best kinds of workouts.

One Two Three Kick

A gazillion years ago when I was in high school, I had a friend who always said, “Kicking is a sign of affection.”  His point was not that we should go around kicking people (definitely not recommended!), whether we like them or not, but that someone who kicks us is not indifferent to us.  (Yes, people who can only express their feelings by hurting other people need to do some work on their stuff so they can become functional humans.)  Indifference can be more painful than outright dislike.

 

What does this have to do with working out?  Oh, right, I’m supposed to tell weird anecdotes that have a purpose.  A lot of people come to workouts wanting me to “kick their butts.”

 

Obviously, I do not literally comply.  However, what those folks are asking me to do is to care enough about them to help them work to their full potential, even if it is hard.  When I approach my clients with love, I will push them.  They will finish their workouts tired and sweaty.  And they will get stronger.  I do it because I care.

Rock It

I made the mistake, back a long time ago, of asking who Sisyphus was, when he was referenced in whatever it was we were reading in French.  Stupid teachers who want you to learn things!  Off to the library I went (yes, this was before there was such a thing as the Internet, children), where I discovered not only Sisyphus but existentialism and other cheerful philosophies.  For those of you who have not had this life experience, I will summarize:  Sisyphus, due to his impressive ability to piss off the gods, was sentenced to roll a rock up a hill only to have it roll down again, over and over, for eternity.

 

No, this is not my new workout plan.

 

I am sharing this story because sometimes fitness feels like a punishment.  Every day, there’s that damn rock again and we are so tired of pushing it up that hill.  But, as we high school students discovered in our discussion of the story, there is one way for Sisyphus to escape his punishment:  to like rolling rocks.  Then it becomes:  every day I get to roll that rock.  The rock is the same.  What Sisyphus does all day is the same.  He just enjoys it.

 

Now, I am not saying that we need to slap a sunny attitude on a terrible thing.  Not at all.  What I am saying is that we need to figure out what kind of workout is a get to instead of a have to for us.  (Maybe some of us would like to roll rocks for a workout?  Probably not.)  If running, for example, is worse than an eternity rolling rocks, we can do something else every day, like swimming, or dancing, or, I don’t know, pogo-stick racing.

 

This might be mixing too many kinds of religious belief, but here’s a dose of Buddhist perspective:  pain is inevitable, but suffering is optional.  The fitness version of that is:  sweat is essential, but the method can be fun.

 

Go play.

Two approaches

Sometimes we get stuck in fitness ruts.  We don’t want to do our workouts.  We’re bored.  We’re tired.  I have two suggestions that go in totally opposite directions.

 

One:  phone it in.  This is for those days when we really are tired, but not so tired that what we ought to do is take a rest day.  It is all right, once in a while, to give significantly less than 100% to our workout.  Choose a lower incline on the treadmill.  Do two sets instead of three on the weights.  This works because what we are showing ourselves is that we can keep showing up even when it is hard and boring and we don’t want to be there.  Sometimes we take the C and move along.  NOTE:  it is not all right to do this all the time.  If we find that we want to phone it in all week, we need to try something else, like maybe getting some real rest.

 

Two:  kick it up to 11.  Yes, this is the exact opposite of what I just said.  This technique works if what is tired is our brain, not our body.  It is hard to stay bored when we are breathless from doing some high intensity intervals or from choosing weights that push our boundaries.  When we focus in on doing the most we possibly can do, we wake ourselves up a little.  We may discover that we can do more than we thought.  NOTE, AGAIN:  it is not a good idea to do this all the time, either.  Intense workouts require more rest afterward.  Making one workout a week more difficult is about right.

 

Tomorrow:  more boredom busters.

Gotta get breathless

Yesterday I wrote about why we want to lift weights.  Today I’m going to dive into why we want to do cardio, too.

 

As a fitness professional, I’m supposed to say we need to do cardio because it’s good for us.  It is.  It keeps our hearts and lungs healthy.  Without those, we’re kind of dead, so yeah, that’s important.

 

But personally, the more immediately obvious benefits of cardio are more compelling when it’s a question of sleeping in versus getting up and getting to it.  Of course I’m glad that cardio burns calories and keeps my arteries from clogging and increases my sensitivity to insulin, but that doesn’t get me on the bike.  Here’s what does:

 

Cardio boosts mood.  Studies have shown that cardio can be as or more effective than antidepressants for mild depression.  Even without the scientific evidence, I think most of us know that a brisk walk or a bike ride or a swim can make us much more cheerful.

 

Cardio makes our brains work better.  Those of us with desk jobs or who are students should take note.  That morning run or afternoon recess helps cognitive function.  Bonus points for doing it outside.

 

Cardio increases our energy.  Not at first.  At first, we may feel more tired because we’re working out.  Eventually, as we acclimate to the increased activity, we find that we have more resources to draw on in other areas of our lives.  Some of this comes from the fact that cardio helps us sleep better at night, but even independent of that, we get energy (paradoxically) from spending some getting breathless.

 

My reasons for doing cardio may not apply.  We all have to find our own motivations.  But we can do this.

How to weather...

As I am typing this, the weather outside is gray.  It has been raining and it is thinking about raining more.  (When I post this, it could be fabulously sunny, but gray will return at some point this winter, I’m sure.)  This kind of weather can cause our spirits to dip.  I have a couple of fitness suggestions that may help.

 

First, get in some cardio.  We need the mood-boosting power of heavy breathing on gray days more than ever!  It can be extra hard to get out of the nice warm bed to get started, so get creative with the bribes if needed.  The effects are actually worth it.  I promise.

 

Second, when possible, get outside, even if it is yucky.  Somebody said that there is no bad weather, just bad gear and they have a point.  A warm and waterproof jacket can make the difference between misery and adventure.  Wellies (maybe even silly, bright-colored ones!) can turn a squelching death march into a splashing fun-fest.  We need natural light and fresh air.

 

Bonus points for combining cardio with outside.

 

Go play.

Don't succumb!

At this time of year, it’s easy to succumb to excess.  There are cookies everywhere.  Ads suggest that we buy 37 new kinds of gizmos.  We want to squeeze in just a bit more fun.  I’m not here to judge or to suck the joy out of the holidays.  I AM here to hint that maybe enough is enough.

 

The good news about that idea is that it works in multiple ways.  (I love efficiency!)  Deciding we have had enough cookies does mean that we have to stop snarfing them down (boo!), but deciding we’ve done enough cardio for today also means that we get to stop now and rest (yay!).

 

Of course, I have a couple of notes about this whole idea of enough.  There is no deprivation in enough.  We are not going to go hungry, or skip celebrating, or never have another treat again.  We are just going to stop when we are pleasantly satisfied.  Similarly, enough is not exhausting.  We work out until we are tired and then we go do something else.

 

It takes a while to train our brains to recognize enough, but it is so worth it.

 

Go play.

Not the Easy Way

Some portion of us got up Monday morning, took a look at the scale, and went into Vengeful God(dess) mode.  Now that it is Tuesday, we’re tired from all that frenetic exercising and we’re not feeling better or thinner or lighter.

 

May I suggest a different approach (and maybe theology, although that is well outside my area of expertise)?  How about some love?

 

When we treat ourselves with love, even when we make less than optimal decisions, we are much more likely to succeed and we’re definitely going to be happier.  Starting from love helps us begin right now—we can’t change the past, so yelling and carrying on about it is not going to make a difference.  Love is a forward-looking thing that can envision our better selves.  It encourages us to take steps, even hard steps, to move toward our ideals.  (Note:  ideals, in this context, have little to do with the weird body-image messages we get from our culture and advertising, but everything to do with our personal values for health, beauty, and happiness.)

 

Starting from love, we recognize that we have time to make incremental changes, ones we can live with in the long term.  We are able to balance our long-term need to build good habits with our short-term need not to croak over dead while working out.  We can gently remind ourselves, as if we were our favorite toddler, that while cookies are delicious, we do also need to eat the occasional vegetable.

 

Perhaps what I am trying to say is that we’re not letting ourselves off easy when we begin from love.  We are giving ourselves a reason to choose the best options, which will sometimes be pie and more often sweaty breathlessness.

 

Go play.

How to Modify

Workouts are not one-size-fits-all.  I mean, I’m not going to try to do a marathoner’s workout because I like continuing to breathe and I’m not going to get what I need from a workout geared toward someone who has been bedridden for the last year.  That part is obvious.  However, even workouts that are designed for people with more or less our level of fitness may need modifications to be right for the individuals we are.  Here are some ways to customize the exercises to make them optimal for us.

 

If we have an injury, current or chronic:  we may need to make some substitutions.  Folks with bad knees will want to avoid jumping.  People who have recently given birth may also prefer non-impact exercises to avoid leakage.  Those of us who are older and may have bone density issues will want to avoid spinal flexion.  These are only a few examples, but the basic principle is that if it hurts, don’t do it.

 

If the workout is too hard:  we have some choices to make, depending on how it is too hard.  If we are too out of breath, we need to tone down the cardio by moving slower, moving smaller, or resting more.  This is another place where lower- or no-impact exercises can help.  If our muscles can’t cope with the load, we can, obviously, use smaller weights, but we can also do fewer repetitions.  Also, there are many ways to work the same muscle groups.  If, for example, a renegade row is too challenging, we can do a bent-over row instead.

 

If the workout is too easy:  we can increase the challenge.  From a cardio standpoint, if we want more challenge, the easiest way to do that is to add jumping.  Plain squats become jump squats.  Step ups become jump ups.  It is also possible to increase the cardio aspect of a workout by making movements bigger.  This is the cardio difference between overhead presses and clean and presses.  Heavier weights can also add more cardio to the mix.  And there are always cardio intervals:  throw in a minute of jump rope or a quick sprint on the treadmill between sets of weights for cardio fun.  The solution if the weight part is too easy is not always just throwing more weight at ourselves, although that does often do the trick.  It depends on what our goals are.  Many of us may find that we get the challenge we want from doing more compound exercises and fewer isolation exercises (lunge to curl versus bicep curl, for example).  In general, when we increase weight, we want to reduce the number of repetitions until we get used to the new weight.  Then when the new weight gets easy, we add reps, alternating our way upward to greatness.

 

If we really really hate a particular exercise, most of the time we don’t have to do that one.  There are a lot of exercises out there and we can usually find a different way to attack the same problem.  There are very few things we just have to suck up; this is a good thing.

 

Ultimately, I encourage everyone to experiment and see what works.  As we work out more, we will need to continue to experiment as our capabilities expand.

 

Go play. 

Stressing Fitness!

Moving always makes the list of stressful life events and I wholeheartedly agree with this assessment.  Even a good move is hard on the body and the soul.  However, I am noticing with this current move, the other kind of moving I do helps.

 

Sure, there is the practical bit:  when I lift weights, I get stronger, so I can schlepp more books and boxes and why-do-we-even-have-that-family-gradunzas.

 

The part that seems even more useful right now is what exercise does to manage stress.  I rely on cardio to boost my mood.  I need the weights to take the frustrations that build up in even the best-planned move.  And, of course, I need the exercise to burn off the stress eating I do (hey, nobody’s perfect!).

 

When the move is all over and I’m back to my regular life, I hope I remember how much exercise helped.  I hope I can keep working on my stress-resilience through exercise.

 

Anyone else?

Spinal Tap AND Steve Austin???

Not every workout has to go to eleven.  I say this a lot, but I seem to need to keep saying it.  I blame the white supremacist heteronormative capitalist patriarchy and its tool, the Protestant work ethic.  To be clear:  yes, I want everyone to work out and to do a good job of it.  No, I don’t want every workout to be the hardest one ever or to leave us wiped out for the next three weeks, or worse, injured.

 

We are valuable humans even if we keep lifting the same five pound weights forever.  We are worthwhile whether or not we ever succeed at running around the block, or a mile, or a marathon.  There is no moral superiority to be gained by mastering the secrets of Zumba or yoga or spin class.

 

In other words, there are no grades for workouts.  We do not have to be the six-million-dollar people (better… stronger… faster…).

 

What we do have to do is show up.

 

Get your gear and go play.

Maybe a different kind of rest?

I spend a surprising amount of time, given my profession, telling people to rest.  However, sometimes when we’re feeling low-energy and tired, we don’t actually need rest; we need to get moving.

 

I know we’ve all had days (or maybe even weeks!) where we’ve had a lot on our minds and we feel stressed out.  We may have “treated” ourselves to less healthy foods as a stress management technique, or leaned on the caffeine to make up for the sleep we can’t seem to get.  It is tempting, at that point, to crawl under the covers or cocoon ourselves on the couch, but if we want to get our minds and bodies back to life, we’d do better to throw on some shoes and go for a walk.

 

I am not saying that we shouldn’t sleep when we need to, or that we should go run a marathon to beat the fatigue.  I AM saying that some moderate exercise and maybe a dose of fresh air is the kind of break we need even more.  Cardio, once we get started, increases our energy level and boosts our mood.  Our brains start to work better.  Going outside literally changes our perspective (bonus points for going outside into a natural setting, where “forest bathing” can occur to soothe our souls).

 

It takes determination to get started when we feel blah or worse.  We can talk ourselves into it by giving ourselves stupidly easy goals, like walking around the block one time.  We may discover that that is enough; we’ve earned our nap at that point.  We may, however, realize that we feel better already and we’d like to do another lap or two.

 

Go play.

Exercise Exorcism

One of the things that makes working out more complicated is that we are not simply bodies.  We’re also great big bags of emotion and thought and experience.  All that mind stuff can either help or hinder our workouts.  The good news is that we can use various techniques to ensure that things go in the “help” direction.

 

This last week, one of my clients (who actually suggested this blog post, so I’m not violating privacy here) showed up to her workout just after a pretty major disagreement with someone.  That meant that she had tons of adrenaline and energy flowing through her, but that her ability to focus was somewhat impaired by anger and frustration and hurt.  We dealt with the demons by performing exorcism by plyojacks.  (I have not tried to exorcise any actual demons and I don’t recommend trying that at home, with plyojacks or any other exercises.  Consult a professional in case of actual demon possession.  That is well out of the scope of my practice.)

 

In other words, we channeled all that (negative) nervous energy into cardio.  It took about a minute.  Her heart rate got up, which made her breathe heavy instead of the shallow breathing of stress.  The air and floor took the pounding without damage.  The work was just hard enough that there wasn’t room in her brain for all the icky thoughts.  And, as I keep saying over and over, cardio is a proven mood-improver.  We broke the cycle of Bad Stuff and were able to get on with the rest of the workout.  At the end, she had accomplished a lot with her body and her mind was in a calmer state.

 

Sometimes, I need to take a client in a different direction.  A person shows up with the low energy of sadness.  We can go gently, then, adding in some breath-focused exercises from the Pilates repertoire that help soothe and then energize.  We focus on exercises that are familiar.  We don’t go for the big challenge, but for success.

 

To be clear:  I am not a therapist, doctor, psychologist, psychiatrist, or mental health professional of any kind.  I am a personal trainer and Pilates instructor.  Nothing I do is a substitute for professional help with mental health issues.  Exercise, according to science, can help with some mental health issues, but please talk to the appropriate folks to get the real help you need.  My purpose here is to suggest complementary behaviors, not to treat or correct any conditions.

 

When in doubt, just keep breathing.

Enough is enough

Culturally, we believe that more is better.  Would you like to Supersize that?  How about a jumbo-pack of toilet paper?  Buy one, get one free!  There are a lot of problems with this mindset, but I’m just going to focus on the ones that relate to fitness.

 

Possibly the most obvious problem with more-is-better and fitness is when it comes to food.  Roughly two thirds of us are overweight.  I’m not into body-shaming, at all, not even a little, but a large proportion of us eat more than we need to be healthy and happy in terms of calories (maybe not so much in terms of the micronutrients we need).  Overeating is so pervasive that a lot of us don’t even recognize when we are satisfied and only stop eating when we are truly uncomfortably full.  The solution, of course, is to unplug from the mindless eating of more more more.  It’s not an easy solution, but it works.  When we pay attention to what we are eating and how it makes us feel, we learn to make better choices.

 

The other big problem with more-is-better and fitness is in workouts.  We do not need to be gym rats to be healthy.  Workouts do not have to last forever.  This one does not have to go to eleven.  We want about half an hour of cardio on most days, a little stretching, and one or two weight workouts a week.  That’s less time than most of us spend surfing the web, or than we used to spend in traffic back when we worked in offices.

 

Eat enough.  Do enough.  And then go do the rest of life.

Fall Forward!

I have no idea what the weather will be like when this actually posts, but right now it is raining.  What a welcome sound!  The season is changing!

 

I love fall.  Fall is the time of new beginnings, sharpened pencils, cooler temperatures, and renewed energy.  It’s also a great time to start a new habit; all the kids are doing it!

 

May I suggest taking a look at what we’re doing for fitness?  If we’ve been doing the same thing for months and months, our bodies are bored with it and our brains are likely bored, too.  This might be the time to change heavy lifting for functional fitness, or vice versa.  Maybe it’s time to throw in a little Pilates, or to try a different kind of yoga.

 

If we haven’t been exercising at all, this is still a good time to start.  I always recommend that folks start with cardio because it is a great foundation for everything else and it has such mood-boosting power.  Begin small and work up to 30 minutes on most days of the week.

 

We can do this!

Not the Boss of Me

I had an interesting week with my Wristy Overlord (aka my Apple Watch).  I was on vacation away from my usual environment.  I closed my exercise ring most days and my stand ring every day, but my move ring languished without my daily chores and activities.  I learned some things.

 

One lesson is that I have done a pretty good job of making my ordinary life conform to my goals.  I am not the couch’s best friend.

 

Another one is that I don’t have to pay too much attention to the Great Gradebook in the Sky.  I talked back to my Wristy Overlord.  I explained that I was on vacation, that vacation is good for me, and that I’d get back to moving when I got home.  I didn’t want to completely ignore the W.O., but I did want to give it a lower priority than having fun.

 

I am the boss, not the W.O.

Demons totally optional

I would really like it if I could work out once and poof!  There I am, strong, flexible, and fit!  I am pretty sure I am not the only one who would like this, but unfortunately, it doesn’t work that way.

 

The good news is that even though we have to keep working out, it doesn’t have to be a terrible struggle every time.  We can reach our goals without working out for hours and hours, drenched in sweat, whipped by demons, and groaning the whole time (unless you want to; I’m not going to judge you.).

 

We want to get our hearts pumping for about 30 minutes, five days a week.  Ideally, we throw in a couple of half-hour weight lifting sessions some time during the week and a few minutes of stretching every day.  That’s it.  We’ve met the basic needs for cardio, strength, and flexibility.  We waste more time than that during the week watching silly cat videos or searching for our kids’ shoes.

 

A lot of people tell me they hate exercise.  It might be true for a few of them, but nearly everyone has had a good time walking in a pretty place, or playing in the water, or chasing around on the playground at some point in life.  If we pick an exercise that we like anyway, that time becomes play rather than work.  This is why I so often end my blog posts the same way:  Go play.

Skip away...

We all have times when we really don’t want to work out.  We are really good at thinking of reasons why we should skip a workout or two or three—I’m tired and stressed and it takes too long and maybe my knee would feel better with a rest and what if the baby cries and how will I get my chores done and now work is texting me…

 

Fine.  Skip one.  We are not going to lose the great gold medal in the sky for skipping one workout.

 

What’s the catch?  Well, we only get to skip one (unless we are truly sick or injured, in which case we wait until our doctor and/or physical therapist clears us to work out again, because that’s just smart.).

 

When we give ourselves permission to skip one and only one, we have to pause and think about things.  Is this the busiest day of my week, or is it only going to get worse?  Am I going to feel better or worse once I get started?  If I do my minimum workout, does it really take that long?  How much more effective will I be when my mind is clearer from my workout?  Isn’t it time that work respected my boundaries?

 

There are definitely times when the right answer is not to work out.  Resting is a valid and useful thing.  But it is also good to think through our decisions.

 

Go play.  Or not.  It’s up to each of us to choose.

Improve Mental Health!

Let’s talk about mental health for a minute or two.  Mental health treatment is out of my scope of practice (I am not a doctor or a therapist; I don’t even play one on tv.).  That said, actual researchers have gathered data on the links between exercise and mental health.  Here’s what they have to say:

 

Cardio exercise improves mood.  Those of us who suffer from depression and anxiety can benefit from getting moving.  In some studies, cardio was as effective or more effective than antidepressants (please note:  do NOT stop taking medication without talking to a doctor.).  It is a helpful adjunct to whatever our healthcare providers suggest we do for our mental health.

 

Exercise also helps relieve stress.  Different kinds of exercise relieve it in different ways, in my experience.  Those of us who need to practice chilling out might want to go to Pilates or yoga.  Those with some aggression to burn might prefer cardio or weights.

 

Finally, that whole Juvenal (yes, I looked it up) healthy mind in a healthy body turns out to be true.  When our bodies are healthy, our minds feel better, too.

 

Go play.