Monday Workout: Reboot the circuit!

I’ve been enjoying experimenting with these shorter circuits.  I hope everyone else is, too!  Go for four or five rounds.  If you don’t have a kettle bell, a dumbbell works fine for the swings.  If you don’t have a resistance band, substitute body weight squats.

1 min cardio
KB swing	20
plank to side balance	10
reverse fly	20
plank straddle jumps	20
band squats	20
femur arcs	10

This picture is a pile of frogs and has nothing to do with the post

Let’s talk about celebrating.  The theory is that celebrations make us feel good.  So we eat too much and drink too much and stay up too late and the next day we feel… not good.

Let’s try celebrating by doing things that actually make us feel good, like laughing and running around and ice skating and drinking one cup of cocoa and giving people gifts that make their faces light up.

We can feel better all the time that way.

Please tell me!

A long time ago, now, I worked as a coordinator of a service-learning program.  Service-learning combines cognitive components with real-world experience, which allows each to enrich the other.  Doing community service is certainly always valuable; reflecting on the underlying problems, seeking to understand the people involved, soliciting input and feedback, and applying all that stuff to the service can really change the world.

When I recently decided to open the studio for meditation and to offer free mat Pilates on Friday, I forgot one of the things I used to know when I was actively involved in service-learning:  the community needs input.  So:  What can I or should I offer to you, my community, from my studio?  Do you want free mat class?  Do you want access to meditation space?  What times and days do you feel the need?  Is there a need?

Please let me know so I can spend my resources wisely!

Why?

Sometimes I forget.  Working out is not just about working out.  While sometimes the process itself is fun, the point is that working out gives us stuff in the rest of our lives.  I remembered when I was out on my bike.

Technically, riding my bike counts as working out.  In real life, it is just joy.  It is being in the sun, feeling the wind, seeing the birds and dogs and people and trees and water.  Without working out, I would not be able to enjoy that feeling, or I would have to be limited by my body’s capability.  With working out, it’s all play.

Let’s remember what we work out for.

Monday Workout: TRX

Time for a TRX workout!  Do two or three rounds.  Cardio of your choice between sets.

TRX workout
kneeling roll out	mid calf
sprinter start with pause	long
1 arm row	short
2 min cardio
TY deltoid fly	mid
1 leg squat	mid
chest press with abducted leg	long
2 min cardio
oblique crunch	mid calf
plank	mid calf
hamstring curl	mid calf
2 min cardio

Friday Sort-of Book Report

I am reading slower than I would like these days because I have a lot of other stuff I'm trying to get done.  That means I'm not done reading the book I intended to write about today, so instead I'm offering a list of some of my favorite vegetarian cookbooks.

The Moosewood Cookbook and The Enchanted Broccoli Forest by Mollie Katzen are two that I use often.  Unlike many vegetarian cookbooks, they have some quick recipes.  Family favorites include potato leek soup and brownies.

Fields of Greens  by Annie Somerville is also a great resource, but the recipes take longer to make.  On the other hand, they can be "fancier" for company.  I bought the book because I loved the winter vegetable curry, but I have liked every recipe I have tried.

Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone and The Greens Cookbook by Deborah Madison is a tome.  Almost all of the recipes take approximately forever to make, but they are worth it.  When I am at my most organized, I make batches of the various stocks ahead and can them, which makes the recipes take half of forever to make instead.

You are a Jewel!

Welcome to December!  Santa wants to know if we have been naughty or nice.

Tell the man to mind his own business.  Politely.

We spend a lot of time criticizing ourselves.  We do not need Santa’s, or anyone else’s help.

Let’s celebrate this particular day by being nice to ourselves.  Assume we have the best motivations, that we are trying our best, that we are getting it right, that we can do it.  Let’s appreciate all our shiny facets.