How do you grow THAT kind of flower?

Some days, we just need a reason.  In case reasons do not feel plentiful today, here are eleven ready to use.

1.     It’s fun.

2.     Mom says.

3.    All your friends are doing it.

4.     None of your friends are doing it.

5.     You, too, can win a prize.

6.    It’s cheaper than therapy.

7.     Heck, it’s cheaper than the movies.

8.     It makes your butt look cute.

9.     Remember that ice cream?  So does your belly.

10. Loud music.

11.  Sweat is your color.

Try it...

I create new workouts every week.  I try to incorporate different pieces of equipment.  I change up the number of repetitions depending on whether I’m choosing heavier or lighter weights.  I test out new exercises (on myself and clients!).

I don’t just do it because I like variety.  I do it because our bodies learn best when they are constantly challenged with something new.  Each time we approach a workout, we get to learn something about how our bodies react.  We get to solve new puzzles in movement.

What new thing can we try this week?

Build

When we are trying to change our habits and behaviors, we can often find ourselves discouraged.  Change takes hard work.  Notice that word “hard.”  That means we won’t always succeed right away.

Even so, we can always find some kind of victory each week.  If we have to, we can at least recognize that we’ve eliminated some ineffective ways of working toward our goals.  It’s likely we can find something more positive than that.  Maybe we managed to have more than coffee for breakfast most days of the week.  Maybe we got in four days of cardio.  Maybe we talked ourselves into a walk when we really wanted to watch another episode of that great show we’re addicted to.

Find the success.  Build on that.  Whatever else happened can slip unnoticed into the past.

Monday Workout: Speed Ladder

The speed ladder gets us to work on precision placement of our feet.  It also gets us to breathe hard.  In the past, we’ve used it in longer circuits, but this week we’re going to hit it in a short one combined with some compound exercises for extra fun.  Four rounds.

1 min cardio
push press	20
speed ladder in in out out	1 min
med ball lunge twist	20
bent over row	20
speed ladder lateral	1 min
pushups	10
Russian twist	10

Friday Book Report: The Human Use of Human Beings

Norbert Weiner’s book The Human Use of Human Beings:  Cybernetics and Society ranges over a wide field.  The original publication date is 1950, with a second edition in 1954, which is relevant because a lot of science has occurred since that time.  Nonetheless, his exploration between the relationship between mind and computer contains much that is thought-provoking and a great deal that seems downright prescient.

As we grow and learn (yes, there is the tenuous connection to fitness!), it is useful to remember what he says about who we are:

“It is the pattern maintained by this homeostasis, which is the touchstone of our personal identity.  Our tissues change as we live:  the food we eat and the air we breathe become flesh of our flesh and bone of our bone, and the momentary elements of our flesh and bone pass out of our body every day with our excreta.  We are but whirlpools in a river of ever-flowing water.  We are not stuff that abides, but patterns that perpetuate themselves.” (p. 96)

He has many other interesting reflections on, among other things, fascism, game theory, teleportation, and prosthetics.  I would enjoy a conversation with this person and would be fascinated to hear what he thinks of where we are now.

Feel good!

Today’s news flash:  exercise includes some things that feel good.

Yes, there are times when we have done something hard and we have kicked some butt and our butts feel like they have been kicked and we feel amazing anyway, but that’s not what I’m talking about.  I’m talking about that little-kid-at-recess-who-could-run-forever feeling, the one about the wind in our hair and the new, super-fast tennies.  Also the peace that comes when we relax into a yoga pose or stretch muscles that really need it.  Or maybe the feeling of length we find in our spine during Pilates.  Or even the release that comes from rolling on foam rollers or tune-up balls.

We need to make sure that some of those things make it into our workouts.  Joy is allowed.  It can be embraced.  And we will be better for it.

A little slack

Sometimes we need to be slackers.  Not usually.  Not often.  But sometimes.  If rest is not part of our fitness plan, we are making a big mistake.  We need to rest to grow and heal.

And then we need to get moving again.

So:  how many days has it been since we took a nice long rest?  Is today that day?  If it is, great.  If not, let’s move.