Truly, you are wonderful

Fitness, like any other discipline, compels us to tell the truth if we really want to follow its ways.  We learn at a very deep level that we do, in fact, love brownies more than bikinis, or that we love swimming more than television marathons, or that if fitness has to involve burpees, we would rather just buy bigger clothes.  It cuts both ways:  sometimes we find out things that help us and sometimes we want to stick our fingers in our ears and scream Green Day lyrics.

If we want to be healthy, we have to be honest about it.  We have to be willing to look at the scale.  We have to face the fear that we will no longer have an excuse to be weak or small or puny; then there is the deeper fear that we may not have all that much potential to live up to after all.

Decluttering, tidying, getting rid of things have become cultural themes.  Let’s throw out the lies we tell ourselves, whether it is as small as “It didn’t do much damage to eat those seven cookies” or as big as “I will never be strong.”  It is amazing how spacious our heads and our jeans become when we tell the truth about things.

In and Out (No Burger)

When we do Pilates or yoga or tai chi, we find mindfulness built into the process as we breathe and pay careful attention to the placement of our bodies.  Sometimes we feel like we have way too many body parts with minds of their own in the process!  Remembering to breathe helps us along.

Cardio has its own kind of mindfulness.  Most cardio exercises take on a rhythm that can help to focus our thoughts.  (Focusing on the mantra “Is it over yet?” might not have the appropriate effect, but we can try it out to see.)  The repetitive nature of most cardio can help still the crazy whirl of our thoughts.

In strength training, a focus on the breath can improve performance as it increases mindfulness.  When we do the “hardest” part of the exercise (getting up from the squat, pressing the barbell away from the chest on a bench press, etc.), we can exhale to help the movement along.  Inhaling during the other portion of the exercise allows us to reset and gather our forces for the next repetition.

No matter what, we have to keep breathing.

Stylin'

I worked on a television cooking show once (not as a cook).  I learned a lot about food styling, which is all the stuff that makes the food beautiful in pictures.  It was interesting, but I didn’t think it was all that important.  I care about what food tastes like.

The thing is, taking the time to make the food look pretty does add something.  The combination of colors on a plate or in a bowl can feed the eyes (which are not ever bigger than the stomach, no matter what my grandmother used to say to confuse me when I was small).  The effort involved in arranging food on the plate rather than just plopping it there gives a sense of love to the experience.

Sure, we can all just eat pizza straight out of the delivery box, or dump our eggs on a paper plate to save clean up, but maybe we will be a little more fed if we don’t.

Friday Exercise: Bench Press

Bench press is one of the most popular exercises to brag about.  Somehow, how much someone can bench has become a measure of her general strength.  While I don’t think it is the best benchmark (ha!), bench press does have a lot to offer for all of us.

Stickie is demonstrating a dumbbell bench press.  She has her feet up on the bench to make the exercise easier on her lower back, but people with no lower back issues can feel free to keep their feet on the floor.  Stickie prefers the dumbbell version of the exercise to the barbell version because it is more challenging; the barbell allows the stronger side to help out the weaker side, while the dumbbells make both sides work equally.

To begin, Stickie holds the weights at chest level.  This means, ladies and gentlemen, that the weights line up with one’s nipples, which, generally, are not located just below one’s neck.  On an exhale, Stickie presses the weights straight up into the air so that they are still aligned with her chest, not floating over her face or belly.  The weights do not touch each other at the top of the motion:  that would be cheating.  As she inhales, Stickie slowly lowers the weights until they are nearly but not quite touching her chest.

She chooses a weight heavy enough that completing 8 to 10 reps is the most she can do in a set.  She likes to do three sets, unless she is working up to her maximum weight.  In that case, she increases weight each set until she can only complete a single, good-looking rep.

Thursday book notes: Functional Movement

Functional Movement in Orthopaedic and Sports Physical Therapy, edited by Bruce Brownstein and Shaw Bronner may go into more detail than the general reader might want.  I read these things so others don’t have to, but I would not dissuade anyone from going for it.

In the Preface, Mark Morris is quoted on the subject of whether grace can be taught.  He says, “…It’s not just a physical thing; it’s a mental thing—to know what one part is doing while the other part is happening, to have that happen seamlessly and efficiently.  I think efficiency has to do with grace, in employing the most direct action to accomplish a task.  Like picking up a pen, or folding a piece of paper, or talking on the phone, or tying your shoe, or putting groceries in a sack:  functional things.”  That relationship between body and mind, between movement and function, is what amazes me about fitness in all its forms.

The book goes on to discuss topics such as biomechanics, neuroscience, and functional outcomes.  There are chapters on various body parts (shoulder, spine, etc.).  I found the chapters on sports, dance, and geriatrics to be particularly interesting.

Again, not exactly a page-turner, but an engrossing read with lots of useful information and food for thought.

Fun, fun, fun

Sometimes all we need to make exercise fun is a new toy or game.  For those of us who enjoy the thrill of victory or who seek to avoid the agony of defeat, any kind of contest can do the trick:  who can do more pushups with proper form?  Who can get to the corner fastest?  Betcha I can ride my bike farther than last week…

For some of us, it’s all about something out of the ordinary.  Tired of looking at the dumbbells?  Say hi to the TRX!  All zumba-ed out?  Spin class!  Snoring too much during savasana?  Try Pilates instead.

Sometimes it helps to go outside if we always work out inside, or vice versa.  Sometimes we need to jump on the box instead of thinking outside it.  Maybe all we really need is a new soundtrack.

And, bonus points:  our bodies like novelty!  We learn more from doing what is unfamiliar, even if we are bad at it.

Also, if Daddy takes away the T-Bird, we get to walk...

When I was a kid, I never thought about getting exercise.  When I wanted to go faster, I ran.  When my mom insisted that we had to go outside in order to survive, my brother and I would ride bikes or big wheels, climb on our play fort, or jump around on the big log sections in our yard.  When she could watch us, we swam.  I took dance lessons.  My brother played Little League.  We played kick the can and tag and kickball with the other kids on our street.  It was just part of what we did.

The trouble with being a grown-up is that for many of us, exercise is not an automatic part of what we do.  We schedule it.  We have to squeeze it in.  We often dread it because we might end up sweaty, smelly, tired, sore.  I object.  It is time for exercise to be play again.  For some of us, that might mean finding a soccer team (or asking the neighbors if they want to play kickball?).  It might mean going salsa dancing.  Maybe we want to try paddle boarding or skiing or mountain biking.  Maybe we just need a friend to go lift weights with us to make it fun.

Find the fun and health will follow.