Transcendental Fitness

Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote that “a foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of small minds.”  This statement is a great comfort to we humans who tend to live in the midst of paradox, but something of a disservice to those of us who seek fitness.  In a fitness context, there is not much that qualifies as foolish consistency, except perhaps insisting on a workout while injured.

What we do day in and day out builds our health or our lack of health.  One workout (sadly) will not make us fit.  We need to be regular and diligent.

What are we going to do today to be fit?

Why train with me? Spoiler: it's not about my looks

Some people might wonder what the point of a personal trainer is, in general, and what the point of coming to work out with me in particular is, since I post a workout every week and anyone can just follow the directions.  It’s simple:  I’m that cute.

Not really.  I’m that funny.

OK, it’s not that either.

Workouts are easy to find.  You can get them from the grocery store, the library, the bookstore, the Internet, and even the dim recesses of high school memory.  Motivation and consistency are rarer.  Some people wake up motivated and do everything on their to-do lists.  Those people probably also floss their teeth and wax their kitchen floors.  I don’t know any of them.  When we have an appointment with a trainer, we have made a commitment of time and money.  That trainer is going to stand there looking at us the whole time; we might as well get on with the work.

Then there is the personal part of the personal training.  Yes, I do post a workout every week.  Most of my clients do that workout, more or less.  But sometimes someone has a tweaked knee, or an irritated rotator cuff.  Some people need and want to work with heavier weights, while others need to build endurance.  My job is to take the workout we have planned and alter it to fit the human being who walks through my door with a particular energy level, health status, and stress condition.

Doing the workout I write every week is good.  Doing it with me is better!

How to Use Rewards

I wrote a list of rewards last week (remember?).  That kind of list can come in handy when it’s time to make a deal with ourselves.

When we do it formally, the Almighty They call it Contingency Contracting.  We can write down an actual statement.  For example, “If I complete two weight workouts this week, I get to have a pedicure.”

If we need extra formality, we can give the contract to someone else as our enforcement arm.  Posting the contract on the fridge or bathroom mirror serves pretty much the same purpose.

On an informal level, this works out much like the self-talk we use to push ourselves through tough stuff:  “When I finish this bike ride, I’m going to soak in the bathtub as long as I want!”

One note:  be careful about things like “Will run for chocolate.”

Monday Workout: Three rounds

Nothing super fancy this week.  Three rounds.  Get tired!

suitcase swings	30
squats	20
pushups	10
kb swings	30
kb twists	20
overyets or 8s	10
plyojacks	30
lunges	20
pretty princesses	10

Friday No-Book Report

What?  No book this week?  Sometimes weeks don't go the way we want them to.  Sometimes stuff gets in the way of our goals.  Occasionally, that is all right.  By next week, I should have read something to write about!

This is a photo of a caterpillar woman celebrating, or at least I think so.

Need a reward?  One that isn’t super pricey and has no calories?  Here’s a list:

1.     Get the car washed.  By someone else.  Maybe even a spiffy smell.

2.     Pedicure.

3.    A book in your favorite guilty-pleasure genre.

4.     New crazy socks.

5.     That song you can’t get out of your head, the one that makes you dance in the kitchen.

6.    A stroll by the beach.  Bring that special someone for bonus points.

7.     One session of a new class, whether it is yoga or climbing or tai chi or spin.  Something that opens your brain and your body.

8.     A puzzle.  Jigsaw, Sudoku, crossword, whatever keeps your monkey mind off the cookies.

9.     Something that smells good, whether that is lotion or perfume or shampoo or even new laundry soap.

10. A long chat with a friend.  Call someone far away or meet someone close by to catch up for real.

11.  Make something.  Take a photo, draw a picture, build a birdhouse.  Learn macramé or origami.

Not Set in Stone, Unlike This Petroglyph That Looks Like a Mutant Butterfly

Sometimes, like Thomas Edison, we figure out what doesn’t work before we figure out what does.  The basics of fitness are simple:  move more, eat less, keep breathing, repeat.  How they apply to each of us in our individual circumstances with our own special chemistry is more complicated.

As I mentioned a while back, I was considering trying the Bulletproof approach to food.  I had two reasons.  One was that I thought it would be something my husband could stick with, given that one of the basic premises is that meat is a Good Thing.  The other was that I thought it might help me with my inflammation issues.

One out of two isn’t bad.  It works great for Brent.  He lost weight and feels good.  He is ready to keep on with the program.

Me, not so much.  I lost some weight, yes, but I felt horrible.  I was tired and stupid and irritable (yes, more than usual!!!).  So I learned something that doesn’t work for me and I can move along to try something else.

Part of experimenting is being willing to say that something isn’t working.  That’s good.  That’s important.  And trying the next thing is just as important.  Up from here!