And there was dynamite, too!

I have a song stuck in my head.  It’s about John Henry.  In case you don’t remember, he is the man/legend who outperformed a steam drill with his hammer.  He won the contest, but the exertion killed him.

We all have our own metaphorical version of the steam drill.  We are going to lift that nice round number weight if it is the last thing we do.  We are going to catch up to that person who always laps us on the track one of these days.  We are not going to let some stupid hill defeat us.

Here’s the thing:  dying doesn’t seem to be a lot of fun.  Injury is definitely not fun.  I love big goals, but let’s take the long view, defeating one mini drill at a time, coping with the soreness, gaining strength, endurance, and power, and then tackling the next drill.

We may not be legends, but we will be happy and healthy, and that’s pretty good.

Friday Exercise: Dead Lift

Today the beautiful Sticky is demonstrating the dead lift.  This is an excellent exercise for the back of the body.  I have drawn her using a barbell, but dumbbells also work.

With the barbell on the floor, bend over and grip the bar.  If you are using a particularly heavy weight, you can make the grip easier by turning one hand over.  Keeping your spine neutral and your knees straight (but not locked!), hinge upward until you are standing erect.  The barbell does nothing:  it is the “dead” part of the dead lift, just hanging there at the end of your arms.

Speaking of arms, ideally you do not let the weight of the barbell pull your shoulders toward the floor (that pesky “keep your humeral heads centered” again!).  You will want to keep your abs engaged throughout the movement to protect your lower back.  Also, only lower as far as you can maintain the neutral spine.  Lower back problems are NO FUN AT ALL and so are NOT ALLOWED.  You will also perhaps notice that your hamstrings are tight when you do this.  This is a good reminder to go stretch after you are done.

Go play!

Book Report Thursday: Food Matters

Mark Bittman’s book Food Matters outlines a way of eating that is socially responsible, environmentally friendly, and, you know, good for you.  This is a man who likes food, so you will not end up eating a bunch of twigs and pretending you like it if you follow his advice.

What we see a lot of in our culture is the worship of protein.  Protein is essential to our bodies, but we don’t have to worry about it.  Vegans have to think about it a little bit, but everyone else:  no problem.  We get plenty to meet our needs.  What Bittman does, in suggesting that we eat like vegans until dinnertime, is bring some useful perspective.  Plant-based foods are better for our bodies, better for the environment, and don’t all taste like kale (Plenty of people love kale.  I am not anti-kale, I just like other leafy greens better.).

Bittman describes what works for him.  This is a useful example for all of us.  What works for him might not work for the rest of us.  We are individuals and need to find our own paths to what works.

Best of all, there are recipes!  I find it much easier to get inspired with recipes.

If I had a hammer...

I like my Fitbit.  I even have a cool fancy bracelet for it made by my friend Suzanne.  But it is not the key to my fitness.

Part of the problem is that I am lazy.  Not so much in the sense that I won’t get off the couch (I’m still on tv restriction), but in that I don’t have the time/energy/patience to log all the non-step-taking activities I do, like Pilates and spin class.  I really tried to log my food, but found it a pain in my patella (a phrase invented by my then-3-year-old).  When they make a truly psychic tracker that knows everything without me having to enter anything, I’ll be right there.

I use my Fitbit to keep me honest with myself.  Too many days of minimal steps and I know I’m slacking.  I personally don’t find the little badge things motivational.  Its little messages seem slightly passive aggressive, encouraging me that I’m almost to my goal and then calling me an overachiever when I surpass it.

I’m talking about the specifics of one tool, but the point is broader:  no one magic piece of equipment is going to transform us.  I could write a similar post about my relationship with my spin bike or my weight rack or my Pilates reformer.  The tools don’t do the work; we do.

Remember that you are the boss of you, not your Fitbit, not the voices in your head, not the refrigerator, not even your trainer.  You do the work; you get the credit.

You are sentenced to...

I experiment so you don’t have to.  One day this weekend, I hardly moved off my couch.  I watched both football games and enough cop shows to convince me that the entire world is composed of victims and perps, to paraphrase Peter Wimsey.  I felt terrible.

I watch football because I love it.  I watch cop shows to quiet my brain.  It is okay to do things I love, less okay to do things that make me feel terrible.  So those hours I spent quieting my brain with football would have been better spent quieting my brain with exercise, meditation, or, hey, sleep!

The fitness point here is that sometimes we need to figure out why we do things that are not good for us and then find other ways to seek the same ends.  I revoked my own tv privileges yesterday, did approximately four hundred laps around an aircraft carrier, and took a nap.  Shockingly, my brain felt just as soothed and my body felt much better.

In other news, folks pointed out two interesting articles to me.  Check these out if you want:

Three Common Fitness Traps

Issues with Biggest Loser

Friday Exercise: Pretty Princesses

I used to call this exercise Evil Ball Abs because I felt that was descriptive.  A dear client protested that that was a mean name, so it has since been renamed Pretty Princesses.  No matter what you call it, it remains challenging.

The Amazing Stickie is demonstrating using an exercise ball, but the ball is not required.  It is mostly useful as a distraction from how hard your abs are working:  clearly you must be having fun since you are playing with such a great big ball!

To begin, lie on your back.  Enjoy this feeling; it is sadly temporary.  Hold the exercise ball between your hands and feet, arms and legs extended toward the ceiling.  Transfer the ball so that you are holding it with just your arms.  Lower both arms and legs until they are close to the floor, but not touching.  Raise arms and legs back to the ceiling, handing the ball to your feet.  Lower both arms and legs again and then raise them to the starting position.  One repetition includes lowering the ball on the head side of your body once and on the foot side once.  One repetition is a perfectly fine beginning set, but as you grow stronger, move up to five or ten repetitions per set.

If you feel strain in your lower back, do not do this exercise.  Try just lowering your arms with your knees bent and feet flat on the floor or just lowering your legs with your arms down by your sides.  As your abdominals get stronger, you will find you can do the exercise without lower back pain.

Thursday book report: Mrs. Armitage on Wheels

I love picture books.  Someone once told me my inner child is not very inner.  My outer adult, however, appreciates the fact that what we as a culture write for our children cuts to the heart of things.  So, with that in mind, I offer this report on a picture book dear to my heart, Quentin Blake’s Mrs. Armitage on Wheels.  And yes, this is more or less a fitness book, by my own quirky definition.

Mrs. Armitage loves to ride her bike.  However, she finds her bike lacking some important amenities.  One thing leads to another, until, in her enthusiasm, she creates a monster of a mess.  Undaunted, she moves along to the next challenge.  That is one of Mrs. Armitage’s best traits—boundless enthusiasm.

The book provides an example of an older person leading an active life—may I be as powerful at her age!

Further, in a funny way, she illustrates the problem some of us have when we get into something new.  We collect more and more stuff for our activity and lose the essence of why we were doing it in the first place.

Quentin Blake both wrote and illustrated this book.  His illustration style may be familiar to fans of Roald Dahl.  He has written other books about Mrs. Armitage, which are also delightful.

Should you feel the need for story time, check it out.  Or come over and I’ll read it to you, with sound effects.  (Ask my kids…)