In Out Repeat

Cardio exercise, among other things, teaches us to appreciate breathing.  Nothing like a good, solid, heart-pounding interval to make a person notice the lungs working like champs.

Those of us who feel stressed or anxious can use cardio to help us.  When we raise our heart rate and breathe heavily during exercise on purpose, it teaches us to tolerate that feeling for those times when we are experiencing the same things due to bad circumstances like panic attacks.  Our bodies learn to recover and, by tuning in, our brains can, too.

Focusing on our breathing no matter what we are doing improves our consciousness.  Sometimes we breathe shallowly, sometimes deeply.  We breathe quickly or slowly.  We can choose the breaths that serve us best.

And, of course, we want to keep on breathing.

Real Life?

It is the time of year when I often think about how convenient it is that weights are shaped the way they are.  I think this because it is the time of year when I have to help move things that are not shaped like weights.  Mattresses may not be all that heavy, but they sure are awkward.  Ikea boxes seem to be made of special frictionless cardboard designed to slide right out of my hands.

This whole concept is the thrust behind functional fitness.  Workouts that incorporate objects that are more like things we meet in real life or that mimic motions we need to use for ordinary purposes have practical use.

I don’t have any plans to incorporate fifteen reps of mattress schlepping into a workout any time soon, but the work we do gripping things in different ways, perfecting balance, and using unstable surfaces will help us meet life’s actual challenges better.

Get in Line!

One of the things that I love about Pilates is that it helps us focus in on our alignment.  Alignment, along with core control, is key to maintaining balance and avoiding pain, which are both Good Things.

Some questions to ask ourselves to encourage alignment:

What are my shoulders doing right now?

Where is my pelvis?  Is it tilted forward or back?  Is one side higher than the other?  More forward?

What about my head?  Am I looking up or down?  Do I always tilt it one way or the other?

First we notice, then we correct.

Monday Workout: Balance and Core

This week, we continue to work on balance and core strength, especially oblique and back.  Four rounds.

1 min cardio
lunges	20
woodchoppers	20
1 leg squats	10/side
rows	20
YTA	10
plank

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.”