Monday, August 21, 2017
Thursday, August 17, 2017
David Bowie says it better than I do...
Things change. (Apparently, I am full of useful
observations this week…) What this
means is that we are in a constant state of adaptation, at least when we stop
jumping up and down in frustration about how everything is shifting,
again. When we can accept that
change happens, we have a chance to see it as an opportunity. We can embrace the change and learn new
things.
Sometimes the change is an
injury. Sometimes it is just that
we are older. Positive changes like
getting stronger or lighter can also create tumult, growth, and more change.
Let’s choose more growth. Let’s choose to dance with change
rather than fight with it. If we
all do it together, it will be more fun.
Wednesday, August 16, 2017
Try all the things!
In breaking news, we discover
that all of us are different.
Shocking, I know. This
means that when it comes time to figure out how fitness is going to work, we
each have to do our own math. It’s
all right; calculators are allowed.
One of the variables is how much
structure we like. Some of us want
a class with a teacher. Some of us
would rather show up at the gym and see where the day takes us. Maybe we do better working with a
friend or a trainer. Maybe we are
the strong, silent type who prefers solo long distance running.
Another variable is what we
need. We all need cardio, weight
training, and flexibility work, but the balance between those elements varies
with our age, fitness level, preference, and present circumstances. If we are training for a marathon, our
needs are different than when we are coming off an injury.
Other variables might include how
we approach nutrition, whether we’d rather be inside our outside, and whether
to blast metal or get out the show tunes.
The good news is that we get to experiment. Try all the things and see what works!
Tuesday, August 15, 2017
Why we do it
One of the things I like
about Pilates is that it makes me think about where my body is the rest of the
time. When we spend the time in
Pilates lengthening our spines, keeping our hips square, and aligning our
shoulders, it’s good practice for regular life.
We don’t (most of us)
work out for the sheer love of sweat.
We do it to make the other things we do work better. Weight training gives us the strength
to attack the feng shui problem in the living room by moving all the furniture
around. Pilates helps us use good
body mechanics at work. Cardio
improves our mood after traffic.
When we have fun doing
the workout, too, that’s bonus!
Monday, August 14, 2017
Monday Workout: A few tweaks
We all have favorite versions of
exercises, but sometimes we need to vary the style. I get stuck on bent over rows, so this week we’re doing
bench rows with kickbacks to encourage ourselves to work asymmetrical exercises
from time to time. We’re taking
our friend the squat and adding the overhead option to make it more challenging
and giving our arms something to do during our lunges with the curls. Four rounds. Have fun!
1 min cardio
|
|
|
|
bench row/kickback
|
20
|
overhead squat
|
20
|
plyojacks/jacks/mod jacks
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20
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lateral raise
|
10
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lunge to curl
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20
|
pretty princesses
|
10
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Friday, August 11, 2017
Friday Book Report: The Technological Society
When I was a junior in high
school, I concluded that the purpose of the English curriculum was to make us
all despondent and suicidal, the reading list including such cheerful works as
Camus’s The Stranger and Flaubert’s Madame Bovary. For bonus points, in French that year I read Sartre’s Huis Clos (that’s No Exit for you non-French-taking folks) and a few other choice
pieces of literature about doom, gloom, and sometimes murder. I was reminded of this general French
tendency to despair in reading Jacques Ellul’s book, The Technological Society and have come to the conclusion that many
French writers’ books should come with a pack of Gauloises and as much red wine
as necessary to dull the pain.
Not that the book was not worth
reading. Despite the fact that it
was written in 1964, it has a lot of relevance to our current situation as
creatures in a society driven by technology. I can only imagine what Ellul would make of our Internet
age.
His central argument is that
technology (or technique, in his preferred usage) is the primary force in our
societies. It is no longer a tool
that humans use to improve conditions.
Instead, it shapes people and society according to its own particular
needs for maximum efficiency. He
contends that we are, essentially, helpless to combat this overwhelming force
because there is no longer any place where one can truly go off the grid.
That first part is fairly
convincing. He musters a lot of
good thinking and research to back up his contention that technology wins. I’m not so sure about the second part
where we can’t retake our souls from the machine. I would like to think that we are not without hope.
Thursday, August 10, 2017
We Have Some Ironing to Do
This just in: we are all getting older (unless we are
magic or dead). To keep from
feeling like it, we should consider lifting weights.
As we age, our bodies lose muscle
mass if we don’t encourage them to build more. Less muscle mass translates into a lower metabolism, reduced
strength, and, often, balance challenges.
Furthermore, weight-bearing
exercise preserves our bone density.
We do not want to be fragile older people. The statistics on mortality after hip fracture do not bring
joy.
The stronger we are, the longer
we will be able to be active and independent. Pump now to go farther!
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