Friday Book Report: When Breath Becomes Air

Andrew Luck made me cry.  I’m a little behind, so I just finished the “veteran” selection for February for his book club, Paul Kalanithi’s When Breath Becomes Air.  What a beautiful book!

And, despite the fact that it made me cry and the fact that it’s about a guy dying of cancer, the book is not depressing, not at a deep level, because it is about someone who gets it, someone who figures out how to live life before it’s over.

We don’t get to control the quantity of our days.  Let’s make the most of the quality.

Planning and unplanning

Of course I plan workouts.  That’s what I do.  I’m a professional, after all.  But I don’t always stick to the plan.

Sometimes stuff happens.  We eat something that keeps us up in the night.  We twist an ankle unloading the groceries.  We have cramps, or allergies, or goosebumps.

We have to listen to our bodies.  Sometimes they don’t want to lift heavy, but they are happy to run around outside.  Other times, weights gladden our hearts and muscles. 

One of the messages we ignore most often is the one about stretching.  Our bodies like it.  We feel like we can’t spare the time, and how useful can it be to do something that, you know, feels good?

Listen.  It’s how we learn.

It's kind of about fitness, if you squint a little, or if you run away from the comb fast enough

As a kid, I was a pretty serious Goody Two-Shoes.  I believed in following the rules and doing my homework and not leafing through the Candyland cards to find the one that got you to the end quickest.  It worked.  I am a reasonably successful adult with a sense of responsibility.

I did, however, once steal a fire engine, according to my mother.  I was maybe two or three, so I don’t actually remember the crime in question.  A kid in our neighborhood had one, the kind you could sit in and pedal.  The lust in my heart apparently led me to pedal it home and tantrum because I eventually had to give it back.  The punishment for this crime?  I got my own fire engine.

A few years later, there was a new chapter in the epic battle between my mom and me over my hair.  We were running late for school.  I hate to be late (see previous declaration about Goody Two-Shoes, who is clearly always prompt.).  I explained to my mother that I could in fact go to school without combing my hair, but I could not go without putting on my shoes.  This logic did not cut it with my mom.  Then again, she would go out naked before she would go out without lipstick, so I expect she reasons from different premises.  (I eventually learned to go to school both with combed hair and shoes.)  Discovering the difference between actual rules and preferences or norms can be a painful process, particularly if there are tangles involved.

The point is that rules are useful, but breaking the rules can also be useful.  We cannot be rigid and still grow.  What rules are keeping us from blooming?  Are they really rules?  What are we so passionate about that we are willing to make off with it from the neighbor’s driveway?  How can we get our own?

Wishing...

When I work with clients, the most important questions I ask are about what they want.  We grow toward what we practice, so it is important to choose practices that are in line with what we wish.

When those things aren’t aligned, we are as likely to get what we want by blowing dandelion seeds to the wind.

Monday Workout: More core for stability

I think this week’s workout continues our theme of stability through core strength!  Four rounds!

1 min cardio
jump lunges	20
flying tricep kickbacks	20
squats	20
plank straddle jump & pushup	10
mountain climbers	20
Russian twist	20
femur arcs	10

Friday Book Report: The Nichomachean Ethics

So maybe Aristotle doesn’t make everyone’s list of top fitness writers.  I put The Nichomachean Ethics on my to-read list because it was cited in one of the books about resilience that I read; knowing what is right helps us survive. 

It turns out that Aristotle wrote a pretty good justification for personal training:  “Moreover, individual tuition, like individual treatment in medicine, is actually superior to the public sort.  For example, as a general rule rest and fasting are beneficial in a case of fever, but not, perhaps, for a particular patient; and presumably a boxing instructor does not make all his pupils adopt the same manner of fighting…” (Book X, ix).

I’m not sure that we need yet another Dead White Male telling us what is right, but the exercise of thinking is always useful.  We need to use our brains as well as our bodies to be healthy.

Girls just wanna...

Like everyone, I have a huge list of things to do.  And some of the things never seem to get done.  This is not a post about how to get All The Things Done.  It’s about perspective.

I added something to my list:  self-indulgence.  It is so easy to hyper-focus on all the shoulds and the have-tos.  It was time to trick myself into having some fun.  After all, if I can tick off a box after doing it, it must be important.

We are not here purely to do tasks.  We are here to live and to experience and to enjoy.

What are we going to do for fun today?