Alternative modes of transportation

Over the weekend, I drove to a place that I usually arrive at on a bike.  Then, with my son and almost-daughter and dogs, I hiked.  Three different modes of transportation provide three different views of the same scene.

In the car, the hills were negligible.  I had an overall impression of winding road and greenery.  In the same location on a bike, I got to know every patch of gravel, befriended every flower, celebrated every semi-flat spot in the road.  Hiking was even slower.  I got to take pictures of things.  I got to pet dogs and chat with children in capes saving the world.

Variety is good.

Sing along with the record!

(I can't figure out how to get videos here correctly, so here is a link to an appropriate song from Queen and David Bowie.)

Tick… tick… tick.  Whether it is the silence after that hard question or the end of the fourth quarter or the last lap of a race or, if you happen to be James Bond, the remaining time on the detonator, we all know about pressure.  We also have a collective myth that some people perform better than ever under pressure.  Performing Under Pressure:  The Science of Doing Your Best When It Matters Most by Hendrie Weisinger and J.P. Pawliw-Fry debunks the myth and provides some techniques that can help us cope with pressure.

The first section of the book defines and discusses what pressure is and what it does to us.  It examines the data about performance in pressure situations, which does not support the concept of the “clutch” player.  The authors argue that no one does better under pressure than not under pressure; some people just manage to do less poorly than others.

The second section provides short term help for pressure situations.  The tips focus on how to cope with the symptoms of pressure.  They suggest that using the tips in the moment will improve performance.  (I just finished reading the book last night, so I have not personally experimented with the techniques yet, but they look promising.)

The final section is perhaps the most interesting, in that it lays out a plan for character development to address some of the root causes of pressure.  The cute acronym “COTE” of armor annoys the heck out of me, but cultivating confidence, optimism, tenacity, and enthusiasm seems like a good idea.

In all, it is an interesting read, if not a life-changing book. 

Dog's life

Cricket and Polly do some lovely downward dogs.  Perhaps it helps to be a dog.  Actually, since they spend a large portion of the day “meditating,” I might have to describe them as accomplished yogis.  Maybe not.  Yogis don’t usually bark at everyone who passes on the sidewalk and I hope they don’t become absorbed in licking their own behinds.

My homeboy, Joe Pilates, watched animals and their instinctual urge to stretch.  He incorporated his observations into his system of exercises.  (So now I have cited a real authority, not just my dogs…)

Stretching is one of those things we tend to skip when we work out.  It does not satisfy the way weight lifting does, nor does it burn calories and release endorphins like cardio work.  For some people, it just hurts.  For others, it just feels good.

The former group transforms into the latter group with practice.  The latter group sometimes feels like it is wrong to spend time on something that feels good when there is only limited time to work out.

Bulletin:  it is okay to feel good.

Most of us have more stress than Polly and Cricket.  We have lots of things to accomplish besides waiting hopefully for someone to drop food.  For us, stretching gives both mind and body a chance to relax and reset.

Let’s give ourselves those few moments.

(Polly is the one tucked in with the toys; Cricket is the one with the long hair and light eyebrows.)

Between a rock and a rock

Some fitness phrases hurt almost as much as burpees.  My personal least-favorite is “work to failure.”

In concept, I understand the idea that we need to work until we can’t anymore.  One of the ways we get stronger is by maximizing the challenge to our muscles.  We find out the maximum amount we can do by trying one more increase, one more repetition, until there just isn’t another one available.

Failure, though, connotes weakness or lack of character or quitting.  I don’t like that language.  Let’s think, instead, of doing the same thing, but calling it working until we are done.  Or doing the most repetitions with perfect form.  Or pushing our limits.  We have shown up and we are working hard; we are not failures.

Besides, what is impossible this workout becomes possible later.

Me worry?

Monday morning seems like a great time to talk about stress.  The weekend is over and we are back to work, laundry, traffic, and vegetables.  The alarm goes off; we are alarmed.  Sometimes in the midst of that alarm, we find it difficult to remember that we have choices.

Advanced yogis and holy people and dogs (these groups may overlap) may insist that really we can choose whether or not to be stressed.  Speaking for myself, I’m not that cool yet.  The choices I am talking about pertain to what we do about our stress.

We can swear, drink, eat ice cream, jump up and down, run around the block, turn up the music, invent creative insults for our stress people, procrastinate, meditate, take a bath, rearrange the furniture.  Some of those options are better than others.  Let’s pick the best ones, the ones that make us calmer, nicer, stronger, and more resilient.  Our bodies and minds will appreciate us for it.

Cheater cheater bug eater

We all cheat.  Maybe not in the sense that we all prearrange the Candyland cards or cork our bats or something, but we do it.  Blame it on our bodies.

The body, like water, will always go the easiest way.  It will always use momentum and leverage and other handy tricks to avoid expending muscle energy.  Easiest, however, is not always most useful or most efficient or even safest.  And so the handy warning poster was born:  lift with your knees, not your back, for example.

Good form requires that we remember our brains are the boss of our bodies.  We can choose to pull our shoulder blades down our backs when we lift things overhead to reduce stress on our necks.  We can use our abdominals to improve our balance so we never have to use the “I’ve fallen and I can’t get up” button.

Maybe for a while we won’t be able to lift weights that are quite as heavy as we thought we could when we don’t cheat.  We can’t lift at all when we are injured, however.

Timothy Leary's dead...

A lot of times exercise can be mindless.  We just keep running or pedaling or pushing or rowing, only tuning in when something starts to ache or complain.  After all, the treadmill never goes anywhere, the pool water is always the same color, and gym ceilings are not known for their intricate frescoes.  That kind of mindlessness can be good, working to still the constant wheeling of our brains.

However, paying attention has benefits.  We learn where our bodies are in space (“proprioception” for you word nerds playing along) when we think about the movements we make.  We discover which muscles are working.  We can even figure out how to mitigate some of those aches with better form.

Change can be difficult, but paying attention makes it easier.