Berry good idea

I don’t believe in superfoods.  Besides, capes don’t taste very good.

I believe in food.  While it should be obvious what food is, it isn’t.

Food is fruits and vegetables, fish, meat, milk, cheese, eggs, grains.  The closer those things are to how they came out of the ground or out of the creature, the more food-ish they are.  (Yes, removing the dirt and sometimes cooking things are good ideas.)

Beware the boxes.  Beware the not-found-in-nature colors.  Beware the super salted, the super sugared, and the trans-fatted vampires.

Eat enough, but not too much.  Enjoy what you eat.  You’ll feel better.

Begon(ia), negative thoughts!

Fitness training, like magic, is the process of making the impossible into reality.  And, since I have yet to come across any spells for strength, endurance, flexibility, and the like, fitness requires skill, dedication, and a willing suspension of disbelief.

Is today the day that I make it through all three rounds of the circuit?  Is today the day that I break my record for squats?  Is today the day I manage to relax my eyebrows while planking?  Maybe.  It is much more likely if I let go of all the self-doubt, the voices that say I can’t.  Also the voices that laugh if I look funny while I try.

Fitness is practice.  Fitness is making mistakes and trying again.  Fitness is using magic (sometimes four-letter) words to keep going.

We all lift weights with our minds.

Sage, but not advice

Over the weekend, I got my back yard in order. 

Yes, in part it was a workout.  Both Brent and I lifted and carried big bags of dirt.  In real life, weights do not come with convenient handles or compact sizes that fit neatly between the arms.  Also, the truck has a high bed that presents challenges for a short person like me (sadly, one cannot train for increased height).

The fitness effects of the work, however, are larger than just plain sweat.  I planted tomatoes and peppers and basil and mint (and marigolds, to annoy the snails).  I will plant cucumbers for pickling.  I weeded around the blueberry bush, the blackberry vines, the peach and fig trees, and the new apple tree.  The rosemary and sage have overpowered the weeds in their beds through sheer exuberance.  Good food will come from my garden.

The patio cushions have been washed down and plumped up.  I have a new lounge chair; I’ve been threatening to get one for years and this is the year!  That means more time for the family outside in the sunshine and fresh air.  Dinner in the garden!  Reading near the herbs!  Napping next to the dog!

What else needs putting in order to enable a healthy spring and summer?  Let’s do it!

Friday Exercise: YTA

The Amazing Stickie likes a challenge.  She also likes the alphabet.  Sometimes she likes both together, on days when she decides to do YTA, named for the positions of the arms.

The basic starting position for the exercise is in a plank position on a stability ball.  Placing the feet against a wall is a good idea.  The ball then rests under the hips and belly.  Throughout the entire exercise, Stickie will keep her abdominals engaged to protect her lower back.  If she experiences lower back pain and cannot adjust her abdominals to avoid it, she discontinues the exercise until another day when her abs are stronger.

This exercise uses surprisingly light weights.  Stickie does not feel bad that she has to use lighter weights for this than pretty much any other exercise because she knows it is plenty challenging!

From the ball plank position, she extends her arms overhead into a Y shape.  Then she opens them out into a T shape.  Finally, she brings her arms down by her hips, turning her hands over so that her palms face the ceiling, into the shape of an A with no crossbar.

The dumbbells return to the floor in front of the stability ball and Stickie repeats the process for each repetition.  Three sets of ten are usually plenty.

Thursday Reading Report: Studies

As I mentioned last week, I am a little behind in my reading.  I did follow up on a couple of studies I heard about while I was at my Pilates training, however.

The first one, written by David Bissell of the Australian National University, is called “Understanding the impacts of commuting:  Research report for stakeholders.”  I think we all know that commuting causes stress, both mental and physical.  Reducing that stress requires many stakeholders to make changes.  Building appropriate transit options, due to the complex nature of the projects, presents challenges in that projects often take longer than political terms to finish.  Technology can both increase and decrease commuting stress.  Apps, movies, chats, and games can turn some commutes into much-needed recreational time, or continuous connection may mean that work is never done.  The small nugget that seemed most useful on a personal level was that people who found ways to make commuting into something positive by using the time to connect with friends and family or to decompress from work had better outcomes.  This is easier said than done.  Good luck!

The second one, written by Siobhan Schabrun, Edith Elgueta-Cancino, and Paul Hodges of the University of Western Sydney, is called “Smudging of the motor cortex is related to the severity of low back pain.”  I admit that the word “smudging” was what caught my attention.  There was a lot in the article about the technique used in the study, which is good and important for those who want to study more.  What interested me was that pain-free people tend to show activity in multiple places in the cortex while pain sufferers tend to have a single “peak” of activity.  In short, when there is an injury, the motor cortex fires everything at once.  Corrective exercise, then, needs to focus on retraining the body to isolate the muscles, allowing for more specific motor control, before reintegrating the muscles into smooth and efficient movement.

The take-away:  mindfulness is good for us.  It will help us reduce our stress and it will help us attain pain-free motion.

Perfection and optimization and reality

While I spend a good chunk of my time planning exercises for people, thinking about balancing cardio, strength, balance, and flexibility, I know that ultimately the best exercise is the exercise that gets done.  I can plan the perfect workout, but if I don’t do it, it doesn’t help.

When my clients are with me, they do what I plan.  The rest of their lives, they are on their own and have to make positive fitness choices All By Themselves, just like we all do.

As an impatient person, I complain about tracking things.  It takes too long to write stuff down.  (I am waiting for the Fitbit Psychic, which will just know what I eat and do and everything without me having to do anything…)  However, when I do track what I do, I learn to make better choices. 

I make a plan every week.  The first part of making the plan is looking at last week’s results and seeing how I did.  If I set my goal too low, I know I need to kick it up a little.  If I didn’t do half of what I planned, I need to figure out whether I was overly optimistic about what was possible or just lazy or some combination.

Maybe a pattern emerges.  Maybe it turns out that 5:30 a.m. spin just doesn’t work right now.  Maybe that lunchtime workout does the trick.

The workout we do is better than the perfect workout we avoid.

Because I am 48 now

Forty eight reasons to get and stay fit:

1.     Fun

2.     Beaches

3.     Hospital avoidance

4.     Cake without guilt

5.     Bikes

6.     Heroine worship of Mrs. Obama’s arms

7.     Ability to move furniture All By Myself

8.     Kitchen dancing

9.     Swings

10.  Cute clothes

11.  Cute boys

12.  (Eventual) cute grandchildren

13.  Loud music

14.  Sushi

15.  Climbing things (trees, stairs, pyramids…)

16.  Skiing

17.  Ice cream

18.  Dog walks

19.  Travel

20.  Independence

21.  Heavy books

22.  Heavy groceries

23.  High heels

24.  High shelves

25.  Vanity

26.  Energy

27.  Victory over the Depression Monster

28.  Strong muscles

29.  Strong character

30.  Strong odor—wait, I mean, hot showers

31.  Tight jar lids

32.  New sports

33.  Adventures

34.  Endorphins

35.  Views

36.  Farmers’ markets

37.  Mental acuity

38.  Karmic balance

39.  Meditative practice

40.  Continence

41.  Better sleep

42.  Better waking

43.  Peace of mind

44.  Speedy tennies

45.  Environmental impact

46.  Cuddles

47.  Empowerment

48.  More birthdays