Mirror, mirror...

I have some mirrors in my studio, but not all over the place.  In some positions, it is not possible to catch a glimpse of a reflection.  What that means is that when we exercise in those spots, we have to rely on other senses for feedback.

I will ask clients where they feel a particular movement.  Or I will ask them to imagine, say, that their legs are set in concrete to locate movement in the upper body.

We all rely on our eyes, but sometimes that reliance doesn’t serve us.  For example, when trying to balance on an unstable surface, we do better when we look out in front of us rather than down at our feet.  The movements we make to see what our knees or wrists or toes are doing can distort our entire body position; we need to feel where we are in space.

Besides, when we feel where we are, we don’t get distracted by our brilliant new workout clothes in the mirror.

I'll be over here, eating my seeds and liking it...

One of the things I like about doing massive physical activity is the eating.  If I ride more than 65 miles in a day, I darn well deserve a candy bar.  And skiing?  Hand over the cheeseburger at lunchtime and no one gets hurt.  But.

As I’ve become more fit, as I’ve weeded out the less healthful parts of my diet, my taste has changed.  My body objects to the cheeseburger.  That candy bar, in all its deliciousness, is no longer worth the grumpy feeling the sugar leaves behind the next day.  (Not that I am perfect in any way; give me a bad enough day and I’ll dive into a pint of ice cream tongue first.)

At first, I found this whole shift kind of annoying.  Having done enough work that extra calories would be good, suddenly I was all about the lean protein and the vegetables.  Ultimately, however, I have to feel glad that my body responds positively to me giving it the right things.

So I am going to keep listening to my body.  How about you?

Don't crack up!

I’ve written before about how Thursday is the Official Day of Getting Nothing Done.  I finally figured out why.  It’s because I don’t take time to rest on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday.  By Thursday, I am wiped out.  My body and my mind tell me I can forget whatever I have planned; it’s not going to happen.

What this means, from both a life and a fitness perspective, is that pacing makes the difference.  We don’t finish a marathon or a triathlon or a century ride by going at top speed from the beginning; we choose a pace that can be maintained over the long haul.

Fitness does not occur in a single day (more’s the pity…).  Weight does not come off immediately.  Trying to do it all in one fell swoop leads to Thursday-ness.  Let’s be smart about things and take our time.  Or at least stop expecting things to happen on Thursday.

Gumballs have nothing to do with this post

Some people love to do cardio.  They will run or zumba or bike all day.  They like the music or the sweat or the wonderful feeling of being done.  Other people love weights.  Power!  Moving heavy objects!  Shove over, Wonder Woman, I’ve got this!

The first group needs to tolerate weight lifting and the second group needs to put up with cardio.  Both are necessary for good health and fitness.

Cardio(pulmonary) activity, as the name suggests, works the heart and lungs.  We need our hearts and lungs to work so we can go on living for a long time.  Cardio burns calories, elevates mood, improves brain function, and sometimes even feels good.  It enables us to run around with children and dogs, be the last kid out of the bounce house, and scoff at elevators.

Weight training also burns calories, both directly and indirectly.  We all feel the calories sweating right out of our bodies when we lift, but we are also secretly building up our metabolisms.  Muscle tissue burns more calories than fatty tissue; the more of the former you have, the higher your metabolism (within reason.  We all need some body fat for optimal functioning.).  Weight training also strengthens bones.  We do not want to be that fragile old codger bent in the middle and so delicate that a breath can cause a fracture.  And, obviously, when we are stronger we can dare the folks at the supermarket to pack our bags heavier, we can move our own furniture, and we can amaze our friends with our ability to open the stickiest of jars.

So:  even if we like one kind of exercise better than the other, we have to suck it up and do the other one, too.  As Deion Sanders said in a commercial a long time ago, “Both, Coach.”

This one goes to 11

We like round numbers.  Ten reps?  Great.  But there is nothing magical about ten.  I know; I’ve tried to do magic with it and nothing happens.  In fact, when we constantly do ten reps of a particular exercise, we are training ourselves to do… ten reps, no more, no fewer.

The body responds to change.  That is where the growth happens.  Just for fun, try sets of eleven reps.  Every once in a while, do as many reps as you possibly can.  Maybe even increase the weight so that seven reps is the maximum, or three, or even one.  The body likes it.

The brain does, too.  We can all count to ten on autopilot.  Let’s wake up our minds as well!

Good news: It is June

Let’s pretend, just for a second, that it is September.  We have newly sharpened number 2 pencils and clean white pages in our spiffy Spiderman/Powerpuff/Kitten/Aaron Rodgers notebooks.  And the teacher says, “Write about what you did on summer vacation.”

What we choose to do over the next weeks will be the content of our imaginary essay.  We can hit Labor Day feeling invigorated, lighter, stronger, or… not.  I want to be able to write about my improved cardio, my greater mastery of some challenging Pilates exercises, my many bike rides, and my increased knowledge.

And I wouldn’t mind going swimming.  What’s on your list?

The goddess of victory says...

The culture has picked up simplicity as a buzzword.  There is a whole magazine about how buying a bunch of things will make things simpler.  Much is made of three-ingredient recipes, one-stop shopping, and seven easy steps to whatever.

That’s not what it is.  Or at least not necessarily.  We have some confusion between simplicity and optimization, between the look and the thing.  We do not need separate specialized gadgets for, say, poaching eggs, making quesadillas, and cooking bacon:  I do all those things with a pan.

In working out, we all have favorite toys:  bikes, weights, goggles, classes.  You can’t open a magazine without seeing some version of the perfect workout that uses just resistance bands, or tin cans, or park benches, or space aliens (actually, I would read the space alien one…).  Do whatever works.  Do what you like, what pushes you, and what your body responds to.  It doesn’t have to be complicated.  Just move.