It's simple, except when it isn't

Oliver Wendell Holmes said, "For the simplicity that lies this side of complexity, I would not give a fig, but for the simplicity that lies on the other side of complexity, I would give my life."

This quote was mentioned in something I was reading recently.  I have always liked it because it neatly sums up a very messy process:  change.  So many times, as we think about changing, we decide all we need to do is simple: do it.  Then reality sets in and we have to deal with obstacles ranging from uncomfortable shoes to unwilling family members to poor nights’ sleep.  If we persevere, we eventually find that new habit becomes simple again.

Embrace the mess and we can make it to the simplicity beyond.

Not even a new toothbrush adds much to the experience

I am going to go out on a limb here and say that very few people probably find brushing their teeth all that exciting.  We all, I hope, do it, but it is most likely not the high point of the day.  Sometimes exercise falls into that tooth-brushing spot:  boring, habitual, and useful.

I love what is habitual and useful.  If our fitness routines are both of those things, great!

It’s the boring that gets me.  Unfortunately, boring also tends to undermine the habitual and useful part.  When we always do the same exercise, we don’t have to think about it.  Our bodies go through the motions and our brains check out rather than connect with what we are doing.  We work the same muscles in the same way over and over.

Let’s shake it up a bit.  If we’ve been doing all circuits, let’s throw in a heavy lifting day.  If it has been treadmill for months, let’s go outside.  The new muscle movements will wake up body and mind and reinvigorate the practice.

The video has no picnic baskets, but it is smarter than average...

By happy accident, I ended up with a yoga personal training session.  Which is to say, the other people who normally show up for the yoga class I take didn’t make it and I was the only student.  It has happened to me once before, but I forgot how different it is.

For background, I am not a particularly gifted yogi.  I’m more like Yogi (“hand over the picnic basket!).  I take yoga not because I’m good at it, but because I am bad at it.  I need to spend conscious time on flexibility and I need to unplug the whirring fan of my brain.  I tend to be a back-of-the-class student so I can see what to do and mostly not be seen as I try to figure out exactly how I’m supposed to get my foot over there with all those other body parts in the way.

When I am the only student, there is no incognito.

What that meant, in the moment, was that I got to learn things that were directly relevant to me.  When class is large, a teacher’s recommendation to lengthen one side of the body or lower shoulders or level hips may or may not apply to me.  That day, it was my movement compensations that were on view and under scrutiny.

It made me realize, again, why personal training is both important and scary.  I learned a lot about how to move my body, my particular, history-laden body that struggles more to do things on the left, that probably shouldn’t interlace fingers anymore, that needs to keep an eye on knee alignment.  I learned about what I was doing wrong.  I also learned about what I was doing right.  The instructor encouraged as she corrected, gave me a feeling of safety by recognizing where I was and gently moving me toward where I should go.

I am grateful for the good example of that teacher.  May I do likewise!

Friday Exercise: Woodchoppers

The Amazing Stickie is amazingly efficient.  When she finds an exercise that helps her meet multiple goals at once, she gets excited.  Woodchoppers are one of those exciting exercises because they work the obliques while adding a cardio component.

Stickie uses a medicine ball, but a dumbbell held by the ends works just as well.  She begins with the weight twisted up toward one side of her body, held with straight arms.  Her arms remain straight throughout the exercise as she chops the weight through the air across her body toward her opposite calf.  Her feet can pivot slightly and her knees can bend a little.  Then she raises the weight back up across her body, still keeping her arms long to maximize the physics.

She usually does a set of fifteen reps on one side and then switches to the other side.  Three sets are enough.

Thursday Book Report: Motivational Interviewing

Motivational Interviewing: Helping People Change by William R. Miller and Stephen Rollnick outlines a technique that doctors, therapists, social workers, and, yes, trainers can use to encourage change.  It developed in the context of helping problem drinkers, but has since found many more applications.

What the authors found was that people are usually ambivalent about making changes.  Getting those people to make the arguments for change themselves rather than lecturing them produced results.  When people consider change and talk about it, they often have a blend of “change talk” and “sustain talk;” in other words, they voice both sides of the question.  A skilled listener who wants to help change can encourage the change by drawing out more and more change talk.

There is a lot more to the system, but I found it fascinating to discover such a compassionate and respectful way of evoking positive change.

(Thanks to Carolyn H. for the recommendation!)

Slamming medicine balls is allowed.

There are times when I have feelings I would rather not have, like anger and sadness and frustration.  They are temporary, but unpleasant while they last.  I like to help them go away faster, so I am grateful for exercise.

Dumbbells have no feeling that can be hurt if we are angry in their direction.  A heart that is pumping like crazy as we run or pedal or dance has less energy to spend on hurting.  Victory over a weight can make victory over other less tangible things seem more likely.

Let’s take our issues to the gym and work them out along with our bodies.

First the truth sucks, then it might set us free

Richard Wright wrote, “I have found that to tell the truth is the hardest thing on earth. Harder than fighting in a war, harder than taking part in a revolution.

“If you try it, you will find that at times sweat will break upon you. You will find that even if you succeed in discounting the attitudes of others to you and your life, you must wrestle with yourself most of all. Fight with yourself. Because there will surge up in you a strong desire to alter facts, to dress up your feelings.

“You’ll find that there are many things you don’t want to admit about yourself and others.

“As your record shapes itself, an awed wonder haunts you. And yet there is no more exciting an adventure than trying to be honest in this way. The clean, strong feeling that sweeps you when you’ve done it makes you know that.”

He was talking about the act of writing, but his words are relevant even to those of us who just want to make a few healthy changes in our lives.  The first thing we have to do to change is to tell the truth about where we are now.  We have to admit that we are comfortable or lazy or weak, that no amount of evidence will make us like or eat kale, that we would rather have dental surgery without anesthesia than run a mile.  Once we tell the truth, we can see where we are and where we might want to start on making change.