Friday Book Report: Shoe Dog

Andrew Luck picked a good one again for March.  His “veteran” book club selection is Phil Knight’s memoir Shoe Dog.  The man can write.  He’s engaging and he has done many interesting things, from bootstrapping his company to climbing Mount Fuji.  There is plenty in the book to interest the sports nut, the business person, and the traveler.  Perhaps even those looking for something more spiritual can find it:

“I thought back on my running career at Oregon.  I’d competed with, and against, men far better, faster, more physically gifted.  Many were future Olympians.  And yet I’d trained myself to forget this unhappy fact.  People reflexively assume that competition is always a good thing, that it always brings out the best in people, but that’s only true of people who can forget the competition.  The art of competing, I’d learned from track, was the art of forgetting, and I now reminded myself of that fact.  You must forget your limits.  You must forget your doubts, your pain, your past.  You must forget that internal voice screaming, begging, ‘Not one more step!’  And when it’s not possible to forget it, you must negotiate with it.  I thought over all the races in which my mind wanted one thing, and my body wanted another, those laps in which I’d had to tell my body, ‘Yes, you raise some excellent points, but let’s keep going anyway…’” (P. 61).

Risk averse people might need to breathe deeply while reading about his methods of running his business in the early days.  Sometimes the tone veers a little too far toward the drinking frat boy.  Those are quibbles.  The book is definitely worth reading.

Both, coach

Sometimes people ask me if they should be doing personal training or Pilates.  There are two answers to that question.  It depends, and both.

The first answer speaks to the question of what we want to get out of our workouts.  If our primary focus is building muscle mass or burning fat, we probably want personal training.  If we want to increase our core strength, maximize our tone, and improve our posture, Pilates can help us get there.

The second answer addresses the fact that we need both big and small strength.  We need to work those big muscles with weights and we need to align ourselves with our small ones.  We need power and we need finesse.  We need force and flexibility.

Whether you choose one or the other or both, I can help!

Hey, bud...

It’s not hard to tell when spring is coming.  Flowers!  Pollen!  Sneezing!  Baby animals!  Sunshine!  The temptation is to throw all the sweaters into deep storage, break out the flip-flops, and stake out a lounge chair in the sun.

The thing is, spring is a process.  We start with buds and then proceed to flowers and then leaves and then fruit.  Sure, the potential for a peach is right there, balled up on the branch, but it isn’t there yet.

We need to be patient and give ourselves time to unfold and develop.  (Yes, I am talking about fitness, too.)  Breathe.  Enjoy the warmth.  Let the stretch come when it comes.

Rules and Rubrics

I love making up rules.

For example, my basic three rules are:  1. Don’t be a jerk.  2. Use your good judgment.  3. No sangria ever, under any circumstances.

My rules for biking are:  1. It has to be fun.  2. I don’t have to go far or fast.  3. I can stop any time I want.

In the car, the rule is that the driver gets veto power over the music.  Reading is allowed by the rules during breakfast and lunch, but not at dinner.  The person who makes dinner, by rule, does not have to do the dishes.

In addition to rules, I like to use rubrics.  Rubrics help me define what a good job is.  The rubric for housework, for example, is that a good job has been done if things are better than when I started.

Finally, I have reached the fitness part of the story.  I suggest that when it comes to workouts, we use both rules and rubrics.  For rules, I offer these:  1. Let’s be safe.  2. Let’s have fun.  For rubrics, let’s try these:  1. Show up.  2. Do something.  3. Get sweaty.

We can make it a lot more complicated, but let’s start here.

Monday Workout: Fun with Medicine Balls!

I’m in the mood to play with medicine balls, so we all get to do it!  Three rounds.

woodchoppers	30
ball slams	20
rescues	10
curtsy with ball overhead	30
twist lunge	20
ball pushups	10
side slams	30
skullcrushers	20
Russian twist	10

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.