Friday Book Report: Hillbilly Elegy

My favorite quarterback picked J.D. Vance’s Hillbilly Elegy as his “veteran” book for April.  It’s a memoir about growing up poor and managing to get out, but it’s also a book about a subculture and its relation to the wider culture.

The story satisfies because who doesn’t like a story about someone who works hard and beats the odds?  And it doesn’t satisfy me, at least, because it doesn’t hold out much hope that we can change the system that created the odds.  Some of that comes from Vance’s deep conviction that personal responsibility and saving love are the secrets to his success; one does not create social programs around those.  Some of it comes directly from the fact that it is a very individual story.

It’s a good, thought-provoking book.  There are parts that made me want to laugh and parts that made me want to cry.  All of it was worth reading.

Recipe for Greatness

It is possible that the perfect food is out there.  We might, by extensive research and testing, discover the ideal dietary choices that will give us the energy we need, fulfill all our nutritional requirements, and keep us lean and healthy.  In the meantime, we have to do the best we can.

As a non-nutritionist, all I can authoritatively say is that we would do well not to eat too many calories, to try to make those calories as nutrient-dense as possible, and to avoid the junk food.  Also, eating vegetables is almost always a good idea.

However, there is no reason to eat kale if we hate it.  Buying a bunch of healthy food that we allow to rot in the back of the fridge because it isn’t appealing doesn’t do anyone any good (except possibly the pizza delivery people, who profit from the failure of our best intentions).  Maybe we need to approximate our way to greatness, cutting a little sugar there and adding some broccoli here to start.  As our palates adjust and we feel better, we can switch up a little more.  It might turn out that we love quinoa (unlike everyone but me in my family!) and that our favorite canned soup now tastes way too salty.

Experiment!  It might turn out to be tasty as well as good for us.

Dancing thoughts...

Over the weekend, I had the privilege of watching one of my colleagues and friends in a dance performance.  It was not only beautiful, but also inspiring.

When we see someone with truly good proprioception move, we begin to understand why we need it.  At every moment, my friend knew where she was and where she wanted to go.  Because she is also strong and flexible, she could also get to those places and look lovely doing it.

Maybe we aren’t all going to be dancers or any other kind of professional athlete, but knowing what is possible with our bodies can wake us up to what we might want to do.

Obstacles? We have got that covered.

The first rep is the hardest.  And the first rep is the one before we even touch a weight—it’s the one where we get our butts to the gym in the first place.  Even if we love working out (and there are plenty of us who don’t love it, I know), there are times when we just can’t get motivated.  We need to figure out how to go anyway, in spite of the “obstacles” we put in our own way.

One common obstacle is a change of schedule.  We have to do something else during our normal gym time and we don’t find a new spot for working out.  Overslept?  Guests for dinner?  Rain at lunchtime?  All relatively good excuses, but we can find the time if we really want to.  Maybe it means an extra shower or slightly less time looking at cute puppies online, but we can do it.

Another is boredom.  This can set it when we always do the same workout or go to the same class.  Change it up a little!  Maybe we will hate the rowing machine or hip hop dance, but at least we moved and we may return to our usual haunts with more appreciation.

Then there is soreness.  We need to learn to recognize the difference between the good kind and the bad kind.  The good kind means we have worked hard enough.  That kind will feel better when we get moving and get the stiffness out.  The bad kind means injury.  We need to rest then.

No matter what the obstacle, we can plan for it and overcome it!

Monday Workout: Rope!

It has been a while since we played with the rope.  What I like about it is that it’s a whole body process that starts with the core.  And the slamming; slamming is very satisfying.  Three rounds!

rope double slams	30
squats	20
pushups	10
rope alternating slams	30
lunges	20
curls	10
rope circles	30
deadlifts	20
standing skullcrushers	10

Friday Book Report: Awareness Through Movement

Awareness Through Movement by Moshe Feldenkrais came out in 1972.  It turns out that many of the ideas and exercises in it have percolated into the culture in the intervening years, or at least they were familiar to me already.

That said, there is plenty to use in the book.  We all talk a lot about mindfulness in movement; this is a book about how.  The exercises provide guidance for proprioception in ways that are both simple and profound.  I will be spending more time with them.

One note:  those of us who have become used to gender-inclusive language may find the use of “man” for “human” and the use of he/him/his as the generic somewhat startling.  Maybe we have used all that increased awareness for something good!

Body Positive

It is not news that culturally we are trained to hate our bodies.  Women, especially, are bombarded with messages about what is wrong with us, although men are not immune.

As a trainer, this puts me in a weird space.  Body hatred often motivates people to seek me out.  People join gyms to address “problems” with their bodies, to get rid of their bellies or shape their behinds or somehow “earn” the right to wear a bathing suit.

We are all allowed to wear bathing suits.  No matter what our shape, we all deserve to love our bodies and to enjoy all the things our bodies can do.

My philosophy is this:  we are awesome as we are and we can be even better.  I like love as motivation rather than shame.  I love my clients and want them to feel fabulous and live a long time doing things they love to do.  What would happen if fitness was not something we felt we had to do in order to be enough, but rather something we did to unleash the possible?