Goal Month: 5

Let’s review.  Here are the kinds of goals we learned about over the month.

 

1.     SMART goals

2.     dumb goals

3.     rubrics

4.     process goals

5.     outcome goals

 

Choose your favorite or mix and match!

Goal Month: Try 4

Rubrics we can try:

 

1.     Do x minutes of cardio x times per week.

2.     Complete x weight workouts per week.

3.     Eat x different vegetables this week.

4.     Drink x glasses of water today. 

Goal Month: Try 5

Some dumb goals to try:

 

1.     Add a minute to whatever workout you’re doing today.

2.     Leave two bites on your plate.

3.     Add one more rep to your weight workout.

4.     Meditate for one minute.

5.     Drink one more glass of water.

Goal Month: Alternatives

Losing weight is the traditional new year goal.  Here are some alternatives:

 

1.     Hit a new personal best.  This can be about heavy lifting, distance, speed, or maybe even finally beating that one person at pickleball.

2.     Reach a milestone.  Maybe there’s a particular exercise to master, or an event to complete, or maybe we want to touch our toes.

3.     Have an adventure.  This could be trying new recipes or new paths or new sports.

4.     Build community.  Bring a friend to work out or join a team or do a charity race.

Thursday List: 3

It seems a little unfair that the new year starts on a Thursday.  (“I never could get the hang of Thursdays.”)  Thursday just doesn’t say beginning to me.  Usually, it says something more like nap.  But here we are, in 2026, ready or not.

 

I am not much of a resolution person.  But tradition is powerful, so here is a list of potential resolutions for the coming year:

 

1.     Move your body.

2.     Eat food that is both good for you and tasty.

3.     Get some rest.

 

Go play. 

Thursday List: 12

What better day than this to have a list of recovery gifts we can give ourselves?

 

1.     Nap.  For best results, keep naps to about half an hour.

2.     Massage.

3.     Bath.  Bonus points for Epsom salts and whatever else makes it relaxing.

4.     Foam rolling.  Cheaper than massage and we can do it any time!

5.     Yoga/Pilates/stretching.  This is the kind of movement that is restorative.

6.     Meditation.  Reduces stress and improves focus and sleep.

7.     Water.  Yep.  We need lots.

8.     Snacks.  Ideally a protein snack, like maybe some nuts.

9.     Walk around the block.  Nothing too intense.  Just a little outside time with gentle movement.

10.  Hugs.  Human contact is good for us.

11.  Make something.  Creativity restores our brains.

12.  Your favorite thing.

Thursday List: 7

Here are some good starting exercises for weight training:

 

1.     squats

2.     deadlifts

3.     bench press

4.     flies

5.     rows

6.     kickbacks

7.     chest lifts (some folks know these as crunches, but the Pilates way is better!)

Thursday List: 4

Why do cardio?  I have Reasons:

 

1.     It improves mood.  Seriously.  My spin bike is actually called The Magic Mood-Fixing Machine.  Science says that you will feel better after.

2.     It makes your brain work better. 

3.     It burns calories.

4.     It reduces stress.  Remember this when your house is full of contentious relatives.  Going for a walk is way better than ending up in jail for assault.

Thursday List: 5

Things I am grateful for, for real.

 

1.     Awesome family and friends.

2.     Eggs.

3.     Murder mysteries.

4.     Cardio exercise, especially spin and swimming.

5.     Sweaters.

 

Obviously not an exhaustive list.  What’s on yours?

Thursday List: 3

Experiments to try:

 

1.     Eat a new food.  This can be as simple as trying a veggie you’ve never had or as complicated as taking a trip to the library to check out a cookbook for some kind of cuisine that is new to you.

2.     Have a movement snack.  You know that time in the afternoon when you think about having a cookie or another cup of coffee just to get through whatever the afternoon holds?  Try taking a five minute walk, or doing a minute of squats, or a few stretches instead.

3.     Turn off the extras.  This one can be hard.  Instead of jumping on the treadmill or bike or elliptical or whatever and plugging in to the music or TV, just go.  Even better, take the workout outside and do it without the distractions.  You might learn stuff about the content of your head or about how your body works or other things I haven’t thought of yet.

Thursday List: 5

Need to troubleshoot?  Here are some good questions to ask.  (Alternatively, I am a wellness coach and you can hire me to help figure stuff out!)

 

1.     How is my sleep?  If we’re not sleeping, we can’t really expect anything else to go super well.  Both our bodies and our brains need sleep for proper function.

2.     What am I eating and drinking?  Despite my high school experience, it is not sustainable to run on Coke and donuts.  If our most frequent vegetable is French fries and we drink coffee by the pot, we might have an obvious culprit.  Even if we do generally eat pretty well, we may find that we’re not getting enough protein or we’re hitting the afternoon cookies a little too hard.

3.     What am I doing about my stress?  Yep:  I am assuming we have stress.  But if we have nurturing relationships, good practices like meditation, and time to relax, stress can be mitigated.  (Bonus points for activities that will help to dismantle the systemic sources of much of our stress.  Smashing the white supremacist cis-hetero imperialist capitalist patriarchy is good exercise, too.)

4.     Am I giving my body a break?  In addition to sleep, our bodies need recovery time.  We need rest days between workouts.  We need restorative practices like massage.  Yoga helps.

5.     When did I last have some fun?  Sometimes we just need to do something frivolous to restore our energy.

Thursday List: 4

Here are more ways to build in intervals in our workouts:

 

1.     Add hills.  These can be real hills if we are walking/running/hiking/biking outside or pretend ones on the treadmill.

2.     Mix in a minute of cardio when weight training every so often.  This can be something as simple as jumping jacks or we can hop on the treadmill and run for a minute.

3.     Make it complicated.  We can amp up our usual lunges, say, by adding a bicep curl to overhead press.  Squats can acquire an extra leg lift to the side each time.

4.     Change the tempo.  Do most of the workout at an even tempo, but every few exercises make it faster before returning to normal.

Thursday List: 1?

If we find that we want to change our goal, what do we do?  Here’s a list:

 

1.     Change it.  It’s ours.  We can do whatever we want with it.

Thursday List: 5

There are lots of ways that thinking about the future helps us in fitness.  Here are some ways we can be kind to our future selves.

 

1.     Pack the gym bag the day before.

2.     Make a grocery list that includes good-for-us snacks and meal ingredients.

3.     Do the laundry so there are clean workout clothes.

4.     Buy the Epsom salts or Advil or whatever helps recovery.

5.     Schedule the massage or training session or class.

Thursday List: 5

One of the keys to a good routine is a good checklist.  We use it until we internalize it and it all happens on autopilot.  Here’s an example of a morning checklist:

 

1.     Brush and floss.  (People who floss their teeth are generally healthier.  It’s unclear if it’s the flossing or just that people who floss their teeth are more tuned into taking care of their health.  It doesn’t take long.)

2.     Eat a healthy breakfast that includes some protein.

3.     Do a workout.

4.     Take a few minutes for mindfulness.

5.     Get on with the day.

Thursday List: 4

Since I’ve been talking about range of motion this week, here are some of my favorite stretches:

 

1.     Calf stretch:  Stand on a stair (or curb or sturdy box).  Hold on to something if necessary for balance.  Place your feet so that the balls of your feet are on the edge and the heels hang over.  Lower one heel down below the level of the stair until you feel a stretch in your calf.  Gently raise and lower at a slowish tempo or just hold for about thirty seconds.  You can also do both heels at once if that feels better to you.

2.     Hip flexor stretch:  Lie on the floor on your side, legs out long.  Bend the top knee back as if you were going to kick yourself in the behind.  Reach your arm back and grab your foot or ankle (or use a strap if you can’t reach).  If you feel a stretch, great!  Hang out there.  If you need a little more, you can push your hips forward a bit until you do.

3.     Chest stretch, two ways:  My favorite way requires a long-ish foam roller, one that allows you to lie on it long ways with both your behind and your head supported.  Then you just open your arms out to the side at shoulder level.  If possible, lower your hands to the floor.  To increase the stretch on one side or the other, leave your hands on the floor and roll slightly to one side.  The side you are rolling away from will stretch a bit more.  If you don’t have a roller, you can do the same thing standing in a doorway.  Put your arms on either side of the door frame and lean through it until you feel a stretch.

4.     Static thoracic extension:  This one also uses a roller, but a firm bolster will also work.  This time, put the roller across the back just above where a bra strap would go (use your imagination, people who don’t wear bras!).  Then lean back over the roller, arms overhead.  I like to do this with my legs out long, but if you feel like your lower back is compressing, you can bend your knees and put your feet flat on the floor.  If you don’t like the feeling on your neck, you can support your head with your hands or with a yoga block.

Thursday List: 9

We all have times when things… do not go well.  While falling into the ice cream is a coping technique, it might not be the healthiest one.  Here are some other choices:

 

1.     Meditating

2.     Connecting with others

3.     Reaching out for support

4.     Journaling

5.     Reading

6.     Resting/napping

7.     Music

8.     Exercise

9.     Time outside in nature

 

I have my own personal list.  What’s on yours?

Thursday List: 5

Need a few more tips for sleeping?  I got you:

 

1.     Move every day.

2.     Don’t over-nap.

3.     Meditate or reduce worry some other way.

4.     Stick to a schedule.

5.     Avoid late night meals and snacks.

Thursday List: 5

One way to eat healthy food is to choose what’s in season.  Here are five September veggies to try:

 

1.     artichokes

2.     eggplant

3.     ginger

4.     sunchokes

5.     sweet potatoes